"Serious themes, stoned demeanour" read the headline topping the Guardian review of Edmonton-raised singer/songwriter Mac DeMarco's third album, This Old Dog, when it arrived in May of 2017.

A more succinct and accurate summation of everything DeMarco gets up to here -- indeed, gets up to in general -- there could not be. While his image and the easygoing indie-pop he makes paint him as the quintessential "slacker," he's remarkable honest and vulnerable on This Old Dog, a record largely preoccupied with his troubled relationship with his father. Behind the boozy onstage antics and that goofy exterior, believe it or not, there's a human being with a heavy heart working through his issues just like the rest of us.