Jun 16

Jun 16 Is Mac Demarco Hiding in Plain Sight As "Dog Walk?" Ben Kelly Has A Theory.

High School Lab Report: Mac DeMarco’s Secret Project

Is mysterious fuzzy garage rock band “Dog Walk” Mac DeMarco’s secret project? Look At My Records! reporter Bennett Kelly investigates through the scientific method.

Introduction:

(State the problem or question to be answered)

Mac DeMarco is a slippery fellow.

The Canadian rocker is elusive and esoteric in interviews; a merry prankster on stage and behind the camera; a rousing lyricist; a lo-fi, slack-rock extraordinaire. A sex symbol.

He’s slippery in another sense, in abstaining from social media. A healthy diet of no Twitter, no Instagram.

A lot like this hot new “fuzzy garage rock” band that’s “all for fun” here in the USA, called Dog Walk.

Since November 2021, Dog Walk has released an instrumental five-song EP, a single in January, and a full-length, self-titled LP in February. The “all for fun” line is the most revealing piece of information they’ve published about themselves, in their little Spotify bio.

Otherwise, there are no traces of Dog Walk on the internet anywhere. No social media, no Bandcamp, no artist profiles or concert reviews. Nada. Googling “Dog Walk” yields hordes of walking dogs. There’s one playlist review that calls them “Mac Demarco-esque,” but goes no deeper. There’s no personnel listing, no indication of who comprises Dog Walk.

Their label is Dawg-Walk Records; no information about that enterprise either. DeMarco’s last three album releases - Here Comes The Cowboy in 2019, and two subsequent Cowboy demo albums in 2020, were released on his own label, Mac’s Record Label. The artwork for Dog Walk’s three releases features big, bold-colored cartoons, also reminiscent of DeMarco’s designs.

This promotion-less and person-less band doesn’t sound like a young band hustling for attention on the D-I-Y circuits. It sounds like a pet project of an established musician. And it “sounds” like Mac DeMarco.

It is jangly, lo-fi, occasionally out-of-tune, “fuzzy garage rock,” as they noted themselves. Specific trademarks of DeMarco’s early “jizz jazz” are littered throughout - extended two-note guitar riffing, a song that starts with a burp and an “Oh yeah,” maudlin lyrics and song titles like “What Do They See,” “Goodbye Baby,” “Easy Love,” and more.

DeMarco recently said that he’s “reteaching [him]self how to rock and roll.” That could posit a return to the Rock and Roll Night Club, 2 and Salad Days sound (2012-2014). He’s drifted or “evolved” into something less than straight rock on more recent albums, opting for more acoustic play, for more careful productions. There’s no foul in evolving as a musician, but to this scientist at least, his last few albums were a departure from the wall-to-wall, track-to-track joy of the early period.

To return to the OG sound under the guise of a secret project, where reviews would not be a referendum on DeMarco’s latest progression, or where it places in his catalog, and just getting back to rocking, is also very “rock ‘n roll.” Beatles-esque even, as in how they embraced the alterego Sgt. Pepper personas, and opened their minds to new adventures.

One other little symbolic nugget: fast-forward from DeMarco’s 2017 album This Old Dog, and one could say he’s taken that version of himself outside (for a whooping?) on a “Dog Walk.” Perhaps a fun little allusion to moving away from a past self.

That’s the subjective case at least. In the spirit of the scientific principle of objectivity, I polled a set of Mac DeMarco fans for their thoughts, where the result was unanimous, contacted the DeMarco team directly for an opinion, and gathered other relevant data.

The cover art for Dog Walk’s self-titled debut album, which was released on February 4th, 2022.

Hypothesis:

“Dog Walk” is a Mac DeMarco secret project.

Materials:

Dog Walk self-titled debut album (11 tracks), released February 4, 2022

Dog Walk EP JARK’S BOWL (5 tracks), released November 24, 2011

Dog Walk album artwork, band lineup (absent), production company (Dawg-Walk Records)

Press materials (or lack thereof), April 2022 Mac DeMarco video interview

Communications with Mac DeMarco fan club

Mac DeMarco 2022 setlists (4)

Fan polling

Procedure:

I listened to the music of Dog Walk and noticed the similarities to Mac DeMarco’s sound. I searched for information on this new band and other elements on the internet. I conducted fan polling to ascertain other fans' thoughts on whether this new band was a secret DeMarco project. I communicated directly with DeMarco’s team via email.

Data:

1) Fan Polling:

Austin, keyboards, New York City: “Popping this on now… First 15 seconds of the first song ‘So Much More’ have heavy DeMarco vibes. With that flingy flangy guitar and sleepy voice.”

Nick, slide guitar, New York City: “This reeks of Mac. 90% sure he’s singing on ‘I Love You.’ And 100% on the track after, ‘Easy Love.’ ‘Dog Walk’ and ‘Goodbye Baby’ would have fit alongside - or even briefly be confused for - a number of Salad Days tunes (‘Treat Her Better,’ ‘Blue Boy,’ ‘Go Easy’).”

Hailey, attorney, New Jersey: “I think it’s Mac DeMarco, because it sounds exactly fucking like him. There’s no way it can’t be him. I made this decision in under 15 seconds.” On a confidence scale of 1-10 with 10 being Most Confident that Dog Walk is Mac DeMarco, Hailey submitted a 10.

Thomas, graphic artist, Philadelphia: “Whoa definitely sounds like him.”

2) Email exchange to Mac DeMarco fan club:

Representatives from the Mac DeMarco fan club did not confirm nor deny the notion of Dog Walk being Mac’s side project.

3) Mac DeMarco’s 2022 set lists on setlist.fm website

None of Dog Walk’s titles appear on four Mac DeMarco setlists in 2022.

The songs that do appear, in alphabetical order and frequency, are many of your favorites: Another One (4), Baby's Wearin' Blue Jeans (2), Blue Boy (1), Chamber of Reflection (4), Cooking Up Something Good (3), Dreams From Yesterday (2), Finally Alone (1), For the First Time (4), Freaking Out the Neighborhood (4), Let Her Go (2), Little Dogs March (1), My Kind of Woman (3), My Old Man (3), Nobody (4), Ode to Viceroy (3), On the Level (4), One More Love Song (1), Passing Out Pieces (4), Rock and Roll Night Club (2), Salad Days (4), Still Beating (2), Still Together (3), The Stars Keep On Calling My Name (2)

4) Mac DeMarco interview, April 2022

Excerpts from NME’s “Friends Like These” interview where two musical friends discuss a bunch of topics, between DeMarco and label-mate Vicky Farewell. Emphasis mine:

Vicky Farewell: What motivates you as a musician?

Mac DeMarco: This is a complicated question, very complicated. What does motivate me? Hmm. I think it all has to come back down to: I love to do it. But, even though I love to do it, sometimes it's a pain. There's a lot of people breathing down your neck. When you start making money doing something like this, there's even more people breathing down your neck. Sometimes you hate it. Sometimes you don't want to do it. But I still do love doing it and I have been doing it over the years. I think that maybe my…[pause] I refuse to show some of those people what I make more often now. And I try to keep it as pure as I can. Because I love the music part, I hate pretty much everything else surrounding it. Ha ha ha ha ha.

MD later: I still am having a great time, don't get me wrong.

VF: What are you currently working on?

MD: I'm working on a record. I'm in New York. Am I working on it in New York? Maybe a little bit. Some. Just in New York? No, I don't think so. But I'm here now. We got a show on Wednesday. But here's the thing. I may be out, and I may be working on a record, but here's the thing, I've been in New York, I've been driving around a couple of months now working on this so-called record here. I think what I'm mainly working on is living a happy life. And it's working. And I think that uh... Yeah, that's a good answer. Mmhmm.

VF: Yeah I remember you telling me recently... you were in a place where you were very happy.

MD: Yeah but I'm also going insane. It's all about the enrichment of the human life and the excitement, and the bottling of that, and the cultivation of that. I'm learning how to, I'm re-teaching myself how to rock and roll. Ha ha ha. But in my life, in my life. Excitement, you know.

In the interview, DeMarco also says his new album will sound like the "Ewok Village" from Star Wars. Which, ok, sure. However, I think that could actually be a sneaky “Dog Walk” reference between friends. An inside joke to his label mate, Vicky Farewell, who just happens to be the only other musician on his label, and thus probably connected enough to know about Dog Walk. Maybe Ewok was a nickname for Dog Walk during the creative process. (Ewok = E-Walk = Dog Walk?)

Conclusions:

What have we learned?

We learned that five out of five Mac DeMarco fans, including this scientist, believe with confidence that Dog Walk is Mac DeMarco’s masquerade.

We learned a little bit more from interviews and emails, and through bits and pieces on the internet, like the incongruous amount of public Dog Walk information available relative to its musical output.

And principally, we the people listened to Dog Walk and trusted our ears to determine that this band, shrouded in DeMarco-esque mystery yet hiding in plain sight for months, has undeniable musical and theoretical connections to the subject.

This music can now ricochet through earbuds and stereos the world over in liberated style. A righteous, rock and roll revival from the one and only Mac DeMarco.

Mac, ya done good. Again.