With a whopping 199-song track and almost nine-hour playtime, Mac DeMarco takes it all with his new album “One Wayne G.” 

DeMarco released the album on Friday, April 21 with the name “Wayne G” referring to hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. The album consists of many unreleased instrumentals and demos from 2018 to 2023. Now, out of the many instrumentals released, there was a handful of actual songs that had lyrics, 18 to be exact, all of which had titles, unlike the instrumentals. 

The album opens with “20180512” which is an upbeat instrumental that sets a playful mood. I’d see this album as something you’d play while doing homework or reading a good book. The tone of the whole album isn’t very prominent as some songs are very… questionable.

An example of a very questionable song is “20190205 2.” For a whole two minutes, there’s an ominous instrumental that sounds like it should be played in the background of a horror game. This was honestly unexpected when I listened to the album and it definitely frightened me; I immediately skipped it out of fear. I’d say it’s my least favorite for obvious reasons. It consists of random clanging sounds and an eerie piano and isn’t something you can sing to. I don’t see why this exists in the first place. 

An instrumental I enjoyed was “20180930,” as the tone was very cheery but wasn’t overly loud. Although it wasn’t much different compared to the other instrumentals, I do have to admit, this one was very relaxing. I listened to this album while cleaning and I must say it’s great background music. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s an album I’d suggest others to listen to fully. I had some favorites which were “Cowboy S**t,” “The Truth” and “Fooled by Love.” I couldn’t choose a favorite between these songs, but they all have that Mac DeMarco twang to them. I believe if this album had released some songs as singles and just released the lyrical songs, it’d be more appealing to me, but eight hours of zero lyrics is tough to listen to.

There was also a funky song, I should say, which is called “She Want The Sandwich”. It consists of him singing about how he will get this girl a sandwich with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Oddly enough the beat was very vibey and chill, but I couldn’t hop on board with the lyrics. 

The second to last lyrical song you hear from DeMarco is titled “Father Of The Year” which entails descriptive lyricism of a deadbeat father who pays no mind to his children, living a new life. I enjoyed the song thoroughly as I think the message behind this is great and one many can connect with. 

Though DeMarco’s album wasn’t a complete bust as it had some very great songs and instrumental beats, it isn’t his number-one album or greatest work in my books.