Music / Reviews
Review: Mac DeMarco, Prospect: ‘Strip away the slacker image and a muso soul lurks beneath’
Mac DeMarco is your quintessential cult pop star, albeit one who has built a vast global audience via streaming and social media.
Largely self-produced, the Canadian’s quirky, soul-baring songs and chaotic persona have resonated with millions in this era of airbrushed perfection. Tonight’s show at the 3000 capacity Prospect Building sold out almost instantly.
This evening’s support act is Tex Crick, who is warmly received even as the chatter of excited Mac fans threatens to drown him out.
An Australian singer, pianist and songwriter, he’s signed to the headliner’s imaginatively named record label and shares his penchant for lovelorn songcraft.
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In other ways Crick’s approach is more traditional though – dare I say middle of the road – harking back to grown up ’70s ivory-tinklers such as Carole King and Randy Newman.
Crick’s jazz-inflected tunes are sharply composed and arranged for his nimble band, but the singer’s mellow croon and wry, understated lyrics are a bit subtle for a venue of this size.
If any film directors reading this are shooting an old fashioned romantic comedy, songs like Sometimes I Forget and Silly Little Things are the soundtrack you’re looking for.
DeMarco’s set is much more dynamic, his material ranging from frazzled indie rock to sophisticated, synth-laden psychedelic pop and the stripped down balladry of 2025’s Guitar.
Opening with the gorgeously poignant Shining, the set seesaws between new and old favourites, interspersed with a range of onstage tics that include jerky dancing, comedy accents and some impressive handstands.
DeMarco’s between-song banter ranges from the surreal to the scatalogical. At one point he deconstructs the word Bristol (‘bris toll’) for an extended gag about circumcision.
His bandmates are superb, versatile musicians, whether grooving tidily like millennial Steely Dans or burning brightly like latterday Smiths.
The synth and lead guitar players both take fine solos, although best of all is a bass workout from Daryl Johns that sounds like it’s escaped from a prog / fusion jam from the early ‘80s.
That Johns carries it off wearing nothing but boxer shorts brings the scene down to earth a bit. But that’s the thing about Mac Demarco. Strip away his slacker image and down-at-heel lyricism and a sophisticated muso soul lurks beneath.
Tonight’s highlights include youth-addled early hits like Freakin’ Out The Neighbourhood and Ode To Viceroy, as well as more mature, reflective fare like Holy and Heart to Heart.
Best of all is the one-two punch of Down By The River with its feedback-strewn psychedelic coda, and the magnificent My Kind of Woman, which results in the evening’s most boisterous singalong.
He ends with early favourite Chamber of Reflection before a one-song encore of Nobody has the audience swaying in unison like the Mac devotees they surely are.
All images: Fran Vicaria from Kolab Studios
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