One Wayne G

Before pressing play on this collection, I for one had not been entirely acquainted with the works of Mac DeMarco. While I am aware of his popular tracks, and of course the songs that constantly resurface on platforms such as TikTok, this was the first extended work of his that I have experienced. Boasting 199 songs, ‘One Wayne G’ reaches a lengthy runtime of 8 hours and 43 minutes, and consists of a variety of dated demos from May 2018 to January 2023 which leave its purpose ambiguous. The existence of a purpose to this collection is debatable in itself, although I chose to see this as a challenge. A challenge it certainly was, and coming out of this I have to applaud anyone who managed to consume this in one listen. Throughout, ‘One Wayne G’ seems to be in the same vein as Sufjan Steven’s ‘Convocations’: bloated, oversaturated, and perhaps unnecessary. Without Mac’s vocals to guide you on many tracks, it’s easy to become bored or lost among the various instrumentals, of which few stand out. However, it’s impossible to see, on some of these tracks, where Mac’s vocals would fit in, and on the others it’s simply frustrating that there is none present. Those that do feature vocals are even often ruined by these vocals, which Mac tends to limit to random noises rather than anything distinguishable and meaningful. Overall, this collection would be a nice, easy listen if it was limited to around half an hour’s worth of instrumental, but it’s length and lack of substance make it hard to get through