♫♪  Mac DeMarco - “Undone (The Sweater Song)”

This cover of a Weezer classic comes courtesy of Canadian multi-instrumentalist (and verified dreamboat) Mac Demarco. Last year, the glazy-eyed crooner hit it big with two solid full-lengths: the flange-heavy Rock and Roll Night Club and the flange-heavier 2, the latter of which contained the best musical cigarette endorsement in recent memory. The A.V. Club approached Mr. Demarco to take part in A.V. Undercover — an online series where bands pick covers from a list of songs (a program that has resulted in such delightful oddities as a Clientele cover of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” and a rendition of Kansas’ “Carry on My Wayward Son” performed by GWAR).

So what’s behind the choice? “I remember looking at the list and I said, ‘Oh, there’s a Weezer song. Very chill. Probably easier than covering another song.’ We were able to learn it in the car.” The slacker ambition paid off. While the chorus is every bit as crunchy as the original, DeMarco adds many an idiosyncratic spin: playing the song’s classic, spindly riff slightly out of tune and mumbling over his bandmates during the infamous inter-versal banter. It would have been really cool to hear a Canadian’s impression of the whole “hey brah!” bit, but alas, DeMarco slyly opts for gibberish. And in that sense, that’s what makes the cover so great — it’s titularly, well, undone. Rivers Cuomo would be proud.

• Mac Demarco: http://macdemarco.bandcamp.com
• Captured Tracks: http://capturedtracks.com

Chocolate Grinder

CHOCOLATE GRINDER is our audio/visual section, with an emphasis on the lesser heard and lesser known. We aim to dig deep, but we’ll post any song or video we find interesting, big or small.

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