Courtesy of Captured Tracks.

While an album called Salad Days may seem like it’d leave you hungry, in reality it fills you up like you just ate a three course meal. Between Mac DeMarco‰’s soft vocals, chill rhythms, and gentle guitar-laced beats, Salad Days has a lot to offer. The album is especially a triumph being that it was recorded in DeMarco‰’s Brooklyn apartment.

Salad Days maintains the same vibe of DeMarco‰’s first full length album, 2, but is more sophisticated and mature. Salad Days is more pensive, reminding me of a cloudy day. DeMarco leaves more negative space in these eleven songs and lets his lyrics speak for themselves. 

In fact, a lot of his lyrics seem like the makings of an advice column; “Treat her better boy, if having her at your side‰’s something you enjoy,‰” or “So don‰’t go telling me how this boy should be leading his own life.‰” “Chamber of Reflection,” naturally, gets introspective as DeMarco contemplates being alone, a state I imagine he doesn‰’t visit too often.

Mac DeMarco has this great skill of singing a depressing love song that is somehow still upbeat. Due to his delivery, lines like, “Growing by the hour, love just like a flower / but when the flower dies, you‰’ve got to say goodbye / and let her go,‰” from my favorite track “Let Her Go,” don‰’t force tears to the eyes, but instead provoke thoughts. The melancholia explored in these tracks blends with the dream pop instrumentals to become soothing and serene.

Overall, Salad Days reigns supreme as one of my favorite albums of 2014. The summery, chill vibes of Salad Days are anything but boring, even when played on loop. Mac DeMarco is effortlessly cool in the way that you want your hair to look like you just rolled out of bed even though you spent an hour on it.