Mac DeMarco Goes Through the Looking Glass in Unsettling “On the Square” Video

Mac DeMarco’s last single ahead of his new album Here Comes The Cowboy, out this Friday, May 10, on his own Mac’s Record Label, is “On the Square,” released Tuesday alongside an unsettling music video.

Taken with its visual (dir. William Sipos and Sean Campos), “On the Square” reads as a comment on performance as both deception and enlightenment—the ugly truths art and entertainment can obscure, or bring to the surface. “Baby are you satisfied? / Is this all that you had in mind? / On the square / living life that isn’t there,” DeMarco sings, searching for meaning in the artifice over subdued piano chords and keys. Meanwhile, his blank-masked protagonist takes the stage and steps into the spotlight, exchanging nods with Tommy Midnight’s white-gloved onlooker before submerging his face in a fountain. Through the looking glass, he sees various animal-human hybrids (wearing some impressive prosthetics), including a cat-man who appears to be “Cask of Amontillado”-ing himself. Outside, the one-man audience goes half-mad over DeMarco’s performance before applauding through a final fade to black.

“This video has been my most intimate experience with milk yet,” says co-director Sipos in a statement. “At one point I had Mac in a latex mask, shivering in a kiddie pool filled with cold milk. I did not feel like a nice person.” DeMarco can also blame Catherine Sweet, the mind behind the video’s singular concept, for his chilly milk bath.

“On the Square” is Here Comes The Cowboy’s third advance track, following lead single “Nobody” and April’s “All of Our Yesterdays.” DeMarco has described his follow-up to 2017’s This Old Dog as “my cowboy record,” though based on the videos he’s released during its rollout (including his turn as a cowboy hat-clad lizard man in his visual for its lead single), Here Comes The Cowboy strikes us more as his manimal record.

DeMarco, coming off a recent set on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, embarks on an extensive tour of North American and Europe in support of his new album, starting tonight in Sonoma, Calif.

Watch the “On the Square” video below, followed by DeMarco’s Tonight Show performance and his 2013 SXSW set from the Paste archives, and find the artist’s tour itinerary further down.

Mac DeMarco Tour Dates:

May
07 – Sonoma, Calif. @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery – Outdoor Amphitheater Stage
09 – Eugene, Ore. @ McDonald Theatre
10 – Portland, Ore. @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
11 – Seattle, Wash. @ Showbox Sodo – SOLD OUT
12 – Seattle, Wash. @ Showbox Sodo
13 – Seattle, Wash. @ Showbox Sodo
15 – Blue Lake, Calif. @ Blue Lake Casino
16 – Sacramento, Calif. @ Ace of Spades – SOLD OUT
18 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
19 – Santa Cruz, Calif. @ The Catalyst
20 – Big Sur, Calif. @ The Henry Miller Library
21 – Big Sur, Calif. @ Fernwood Resort – SOLD OUT
22 – San Luis Obispo, Calif. @ Expo Center at Madonna Inn – SOLD OUT
30 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound

June
01 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands @ Best Kept Secret
02 – London, U.K. @ All Points East Festival
11 – Houston, Texas @ Revention Music Center w/ Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals
12 – Dallas, Texas @ Toyota Music Factory w/ Anderson. Paak & The Free Nationals
14 – Austin, Texas @ Long Center Lawn Amphitheater
16 – Manchester, Tenn. @ Bonnaroo
26 – Glasgow, U.K. @ Kelvingrove Bandstand – SOLD OUT
27 – Halifax, U.K. @ Halifax Piece Hall
29 – Margate, U.K. @ Dreamland
30 – Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter

July
02 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Pustervik
03 – Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
04 – Stockholm, Sweden @ München Brewery
06 – Herouville-Saint-Clair, France @ Festival Beauregard
08 – Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
10 – Lyon, France @ Les Nuits de Fourvière
12 – Trencin, Slovakia @ Pohoda Festival
14 – Dublin, Ireland @ Iveagh Gardens

August
04 – Montreal, Que. @ Osheaga
06 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Prospect Park Bandshell

September
13 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Greek Theatre
20 – Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
21 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Franklin Music Hall (Outdoors)
22 – Boston, Mass. @ Orpheum Theatre Boston
24 – Toronto, Ontario @ Woodbine Park
26 – Cleveland, Ohio @ Agora Theatre
27 – Detroit, Mich. @ Masonic Temple Theatre
28 – Chicago, Ill. @ Riviera Theatre – SOLD OUT
29 – Chicago, Ill. @ Riviera Theatre

October
01 – Milwaukee, Wis. @ Riverside Theater
02 – St. Paul, Minn. @ Palace Theatre
03 – East Moline, Ill. @ The Rust Belt
04 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
06 – Morrison, Colo. @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre

November
06-09 – Reykjavik, Iceland @ Iceland Airwaves
09 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ VEGA
10 – Hamburg, Germany @ Grosse Freiheit 36
11 – Berlin, Germany @ Columbiahalle
13 – Brussels, Belgium @ AB Main Hall
15 – Paris, France @ Zenith
16 – Rennes, France @ Liberté
17 – Lille, France @ Aeronef
19 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso