Guitar

Released in August 2025, Guitar marks Mac DeMarco's sixth studio album and a definitive pivot toward a minimalist folk idiom. Following the gargantuan 199-track instrumental release One Wayne G and rumors of retirement, DeMarco recorded this collection in a focused twelve-day session at his Los Angeles home studio in late 2024. The album is notable for its total abandonment of the 'slacker rock' production tropes - specifically the heavy vibrato and tape saturation - that made him a generational influence. Instead, the record features dry, close-miked acoustic guitars and raw vocal performances mastered by David Ives. Critics, including those at Pitchfork and Exclaim!, noted the album's 'mature' and 'affecting' tone, though some reviewers found the extreme minimalism a departure from his melodic strengths. It stands as his most vulnerable work, centering on themes of domesticity, social withdrawal, and the passage of time.