Mac DeMarco Announces New Instrumental Album ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’

Mac DeMarco will release a new instrumental album, Five Easy Hot Dogs on January 20 (vinyl on May 12) through his Mac’s Record Label. The album is DeMarco’s first full-length release since 2019’s Here Comes The Cowboy.

The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter held a concert in the Bay Area in January 2022, after which his plan was to travel North America, staying at hotels, motels and people’s homes, and record along the way. The 14 tracks that makeup Five Easy Hot Dogs were recorded and mixed in the city from which they are titled. The tracklist is presented in chronological order from when each track was recorded.

DeMarco detailed the recording process, stating:

“The plan was to start driving north, and not go home to Los Angeles until I was done with a record. Kind of like being on tour, except there weren’t any shows, and I’d just be burning money. Some places I stayed longer in than others, some of them I knew from the past, others not so much. I tried to keep things busy all the time. If I didn’t know what was up in a city, I’d just walk around ‘til someone recognized me and go from there. I met a lot of interesting people this way, and had a bunch of cool experiences.

“I had my guitars with me, a bass, a weird little drum kit with a kick drum we sawed in half in Golden Gate Park, all the stands and cabling I’d need, a couple of mics, an old model D, and a TX7. I wound up picking a bunch of stuff as I went as well, trying to keep it as travel friendly as possible though.

“[A final stop at a remote cabin in Utah] probably could have slept about 20 people, but instead it was just me withdrawing from nicotine with a bunch of taxidermy animals all over the place. No other humans for probably 50 miles in any direction. Horrible idea. I lasted one night and went back to Los Angeles the next day. When I first got back home, I felt as though I had given up on my idea and failed to finish what I was trying to do. But that’s all dog shit.

“The nature of ripping around and recording and traveling in this manner doesn’t lend well to sitting around and planning or thinking about what it was that I was setting out to do. I didn’t ever have a sound in mind, or a theme or anything, I would just start recording. Luckily the collection of recordings from this period all shake hands, they have a present musical identity as a whole. I was in it while I was in it, and this is what came out of it, just the way it was.

“This record sounds like what rolling around like that feels like. I hope you enjoy.”

Five Easy Hot Dogs Tracklist

1. Gualala
2. Gualala 2
3. Crescent City
4. Portland
5. Portland 2
6. Victoria
7. Vancouver
8. Vancouver 2
9. Vancouver 3
10. Edmonton
11. Edmonton 2
12. Chicago
13. Chicago 2
14. Rockaway