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2 (Mac DeMarco album)

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2
Picture of Mac DeMarco and his guitar. He is smiling and wearing a baseball cap.
Studio album by
Mac DeMarco
ReleasedOctober 16, 2012
RecordedJune 2012
StudioDeMarco's apartment in Montreal, Canada
GenreSoft rock[1] • indie rock
Length31:27
LabelCaptured Tracks
Mac DeMarco chronology
Rock and Roll Night Club
(2012) 		2
(2012) 		Salad Days
(2014)

2 is the debut studio album by Canadian musician Mac DeMarco. It was recorded in June 2012, and released in October 2012 on the Captured Tracks label.

Background

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DeMarco moved from Vancouver to Montreal in 2011. There, he recorded a mini LP under his own name, Rock and Roll Nightclub. Featuring slowed-down vocals and elements of glam rock, this recording garnered enough attention that his label, Captured Tracks, agreed to finance a full-length album.[2] DeMarco shifted his style from Rock and Roll Nightclub to 2, and his glam and crooning singing style were dropped for a more standard approach to guitar rock.[3] The album was composed and recorded in DeMarco's Montreal apartment, in the Mile End neighbourhood. DeMarco made the recording wearing only his "skivvies", or underwear.[4] In a June 2012 interview, DeMarco announced that about 75% of the album had been completed.[5]

Music

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The album contains a single acoustic track, "Still Together", which is a re-recording of "Together", written by DeMarco on 2009 to Makeout Videotape EP "Bossa Yeye", also features DeMarco using falsetto singing in the chorus.[6] The opener, "Cooking Up Something Good", uses a song structure where a catchy verse transitions to a "blindsiding" darker chorus.[7] "Robson Girl" also juxtaposes a "sweet" verse with a guitar-shredding chorus.[8]

Lyrically, DeMarco covers growing up in suburbia, failed love and family secrets, the last featuring heavily in "Cooking Up Something Good".[7] "Ode to Viceroy" is a tribute to the singer's favourite brand of cigarettes.[6] DeMarco is apologizing to his mother in "Freaking Out the Neighbourhood", and trying to convince a girl to leave town with him in "The Stars Keep on Calling My Name".[8]

Artwork

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In September 2014, DeMarco stated in a "What's in My Bag?" interview video at Amoeba Records in San Francisco, California that he had been inspired by the album art for Haruomi Hosono's Hosono House for the design of 2’s album cover.[9] In the same interview, DeMarco also points out his cover’s striking but coincidental similarity to Bruce Springsteen's The River.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.4/10[10]
Metacritic81/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
The Austin Chronicle[13]
Consequence of Sound[3]
The Guardian[14]
Exclaim!8/10[15]
MusicOMH[16]
NME8/10[8]
Pitchfork8.2/10[7]
Time Out[1]
Uncut8/10[17]

On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, 2 received a 81 out of 100, indicating “universal acclaim” based on 17 reviews. The album was compared by several reviewers to Real Estate's 2011 release, Days.[3] NME called DeMarco a "skilled songwriter" and likened him to fictional character Ferris Bueller.[8] DeMarco's guitar work was praised by several reviewers.[6] The Guardian remarked that, although the initial tracks have promise, the album "never quite delivers" and criticised its "unvarying" tone.[14] Pitchfork gave an enthusiastic review, awarding the record its "Best New Music" designation. Reviewer Sam Hockley-Smith commented positively on DeMarco's songwriting and lyrical depth.[7] The website placed the album at 43rd on their "50 Best Albums of the Year" retrospective.[18]

The album was named a longlisted nominee for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize on June 13, 2013.[19]

The album was recognized as one of The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far, a list published by Pitchfork in August 2014.[20] In 2019, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 149 on their list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s".[21]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Mac DeMarco

No.TitleLength
1."Cooking Up Something Good"2:41
2."Dreaming"2:27
3."Freaking Out the Neighborhood"2:53
4."Annie"3:10
5."Ode to Viceroy"3:53
6."Robson Girl"2:56
7."The Stars Keep On Calling My Name"2:22
8."My Kind of Woman"3:10
9."Boe Zaah"1:41
10."Sherrill"2:29
11."Still Together"3:39
Total length:31:27

Personnel

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All credits adapted from physical releases

  • Mac DeMarco - songwriting, all instruments, mixing
  • Josh Bonati - mastering
  • Evan Prosofsky - photography

Charts

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Chart (2012) Peak
position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22] 26

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[23] Gold 500,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ a b Frankel, Eddy. "Mac DeMarco – '2' album review". Time Out. Archived from the original on December 23, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
  2. ^ Traynor, Cian. "Interview: Mac DeMarco". The Stool Pigeon. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Arroyo, Steven (October 30, 2012). "Album Review: Mac DeMarco – 2". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Leijon, Eric (December 12, 2012). "Mac DeMarco keeps his music clean and his apartment dirty". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 12 December 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Skinner, Tesse (June 11, 2012). "Mac DeMarco". Toro. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c Whelan, Alex. "Mac DeMarco's new record shines with its Montreal roots". Arizona Daily Wildcat. University of Arizona. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d Hockley-Smith, Sam (October 31, 2012). "Mac DeMarco: 2". Pitchfork. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d Pattison, Louis (October 15, 2012). "Mac Demarco – '2'". NME. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
  9. ^ "Mac DeMarco - What's In My Bag?". YouTube. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  10. ^ "2 by Mac DeMarco reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  11. ^ "Reviews for 2 by Mac DeMarco". Metacritic. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  12. ^ Thomas, Fred. "2 – Mac DeMarco". AllMusic. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  13. ^ Winkie, Luke (March 15, 2013). "Mac DeMarco: 2 (Captured Tracks)". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
  14. ^ a b Hann, Michael (October 18, 2012). "Mac DeMarco: 2 – review". The Guardian. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
  15. ^ Lindsay, Cam (October 17, 2012). "Mac DeMarco: 2". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
  16. ^ Young, Martyn (October 22, 2012). "Mac DeMarco – 2". MusicOMH. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
  17. ^ "Mac DeMarco: 2". Uncut (187): 69. December 2012.
  18. ^ "The Top 50 Albums of 2012". Pitchfork. December 20, 2012. p. 1. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  19. ^ "Polaris Music Prize Unveils 2013 Long List" Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine. Exclaim!, June 13, 2012.
  20. ^ "The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far (2010–2014)". Pitchfork. August 19, 2014. p. 2. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  21. ^ "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s". Pitchfork. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  22. ^ "Mac DeMarco Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  23. ^ "American album certifications – Mac DeMarco – 2". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
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