Mac made Balloonerism around the same time as Faces, between 2013 and 2014. This historic alignment is apparent in the stream-of-consciousness style of writing that Balloonerism wields. Take his verses on Friendly Hallucinations, where lines about novels set in cold war era Romania sit right next to lines idolising the mythical Joan of Arcadia.
What does separates Balloonerism from Faces is its approach to musical structure and form. Both are equally abstract and obtuse, yet Balloonerism reels off with slower, drawn-out ballads that play out like eulogies to the loss of something. The vibrancy of Faces, — its gleeful despondency — is made crudely more melancholic on Balloonerism. An insufferable simplification could be that Faces is the up and Balloonerism, inversely, is the comedown. The music on Balloonerism is heavy-handed on minor chord progressions, touches of jazz flourishes, strummed out guitar picking, and meandering vocal crooning. It’s like Mac’s own twisted reimagining of the music made by Arthur Russell.
| A01 | Tambourine Dream |
| A02 | DJ's Chord Organ |
| A03 | Do You Have a Destination? |
| A04 | 5 Dollar Pony Rides |
| A05 | Friendly Hallucinations |
| A06 | Mrs. Deborah Downer |
| A07 | Stoned |
| B08 | Shangri-La |
| B09 | Funny Papers |
| B10 | Excelsior |
| B11 | Transformations |
| B12 | Manakins |
| B13 | Rick's Piano |
| B14 | Tomorrow Will Never Know |
