Mac DeMarco has revealed he hid copies of his “secret album” for fans to discover whilst out on tour in Europe.
Eschewing press releases and social media rollouts, the Canadian indie rocker instead taped CD-R copies of his latest project, ‘Dog On The Rock’, to barricades on his most recent trek across Europe.
DeMarco teased something new was coming last month in an interview at Paris’ Arte Concert Festival, referring to it at the time as “Mac’s secret album” and saying: “I actually do have a bunch of recordings that I made in between these two tours, and I went to the print shop to make little album sleeves of that yesterday.
“So maybe there will be another secret album, but one that you can hear this time.”
With fans now sharing the lo-fi, demo-quality tracks on YouTube, all 40 minutes of new material is now available to listeners – and you can check it out below.
In support of his most recent acclaimed album ‘Guitar’, the Canadian indie veteran will follow his scheduled appearance at Primavera Sound next year with a run of shows across the UK and Europe. Kicking off with a three-night residency at London’s O2 Academy Brixton – marking his first shows in the venue since 2019 – he will then make stops in France, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and more.
DeMarco spoke to NME back in August about the pivotal music that shaped who he is, with the likes of The Sultan Of Slacker Rock and Moody Blues making the cut.
Elsewhere, he reflected on the changes in the music industry throughout his career – specifically the rise of AI.
“We’re in a funny zone right now where AI is coming in and getting good at things, fast,” he told The Independent. “Things start feeling paint-by-numbers sometimes. When you have AI bands coming around, and people listening to music without even realising it’s AI-generated, we’re in a weird place.”
He continued: “I hear about people using AI to even write lyrics a lot nowadays, which is a bit like… give me a fucking break. I think it’s about intention. If people want to climb the mountain, I guess you use the tools you can to get up there. I don’t know what you’re gonna find when you get up there, but hopefully you’re happy.”
