(“You’ve always felt it’s hard to voice complaints / But what you voice is what will drive your fate.”) On “One Another”, he’s trying to reassure a broken up friend. Overall, his level of empathy on This Old Dog truly makes it stand out among his catalog. “Baby You’re Out” is possibly a celebration of his mother Agnes DeMarco escape from her relationship with her ex-husband. He sings about missing her on the woozy “For The First Time” and about overcoming rocky periods on “Still Beating”. On the title track, which directly follows “Old Man”, he reveals that he is the titular creature, the ultimate symbol of stubborn loyalty, resulting in the most affecting tribute yet to McNally. What’s just as important to DeMarco, though, and what connects This Old Dog to his previous albums, is his relationship to his longtime girlfriend, Kiera McNally.
The warbling, off-kilter synthesizer notes on the off beat of “My Old Man” effectively complement his sudden realization: “Uh-oh/oh no, looks like I’m seeing more of my old man in me.” The album consists almost entirely of acoustic guitar, synthesizer, and drum machine, DeMarco’s singing consistently gruff.
It’s certainly that, but what stands out is both the way he tells his story–with a realistic mix of hope and fatalism–and the music he chooses to soundtrack it. Much of the pre-release hype surrounding This Old Dog has painted it as an introspective, borderline melancholy album in which DeMarco tells us about his family and personal life, most notably his absent, alcoholic, abusive father. (On opening track, “My Old Man,” he sighs, “There’s a price tag hanging off of having all that fun.”) What it certainly is is genuine. Is it an intentional move, perhaps straying from the fratty part of his fan base that increasingly seems to occupy his shows? Perhaps. On his new album This Old Dog, just as he’s continuing to skyrocket in popularity and further cement his legendary festival status, he’s looking back–and inward–even further. He’s just as much the goofball live performer who performs exaggerated covers of classic rock songs and crowd-surfs as he is the man occupying a chamber of reflection.
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