In my eyes, Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala have been one of the most important bands in recent times. Starting out in 2007 as a one-man-band home-recording project in Perth, they are now arguably the biggest band to come out of Australia in recent years. Tame Impala released a self-titled debut EP which went straight to number one in the Australian Indie Charts and along with their 2010 debut album, Innerspeaker, they managed to kick start a psychedelic boom across Australia (and eventually, the world). I was lucky to be living in Australia in 2012 when second album Lonerism was released – the buzz around it was palpable, and when Triple J (one of Australia’s biggest radio stations) played the album in its entirety before its release it became the main talking topic for every music fiend I came across. The album also catapulted Tame Impala to recognition on a global scale, with their brand of neo-psychedelic rock becoming a staple influence for the new generation rock musician. Along with creating one of the biggest rock bands in the world, Kevin Parker is a renowned workaholic and has somehow found the time to be a part of many other fantastic music projects; Pond (Australia’s second biggest psychedelic export), Melody’s Echo Chamber (producing her self-titled debut which is one of my favourite albums ever), Mark Ronson (giving him the track ‘Daffodils’), Koi Child (an interesting Australian hip-hop/nu-jazz septet) and an endless list of bands with mates (Mink Mussel Creek, Space Lime Peacock, Allbook/Avery, Kevin Spacey, Canyons, AAA Aardvark Getdown Services). There is no doubt that Kevin Parker is a special talent.
Like Arctic Monkeys, a band I would rate similarly, Tame Impala manage to transform their sound in a positive direction with each album and it usually take many listens to full appreciate the music Parker has created. My initial impression of Currents was that it had been made for the masses and it lacked any real punch, as if Parker had taken the safe and easy route. With lots of soft melodies and slow electronic beats, you could easily mistake it for another one of Parker’s aliases. Parker’s vocals and heartfelt lyrics are the only recognisable Tame Impala styling which in the past would have been overlooked in all the psychedelic fuzz and reverb drenched sounds that usually grabs your attention, but in Currents you find his voice taking centre stage around the relatively minimal sound, giving the listener a glimpse into the isolated, insecure and vulnerable mind-set of one of the modern day greats. After more than a week of living with the album and playing it at least once every day I can see Currents being a timeless classic, and perhaps even Tame Impala’s most complete album yet?
On the first track ‘Let It Be’, you are lulled into the cinematic soundtrack (being 7 minute 47 seconds long) of Parkers internal struggles; “All this running around, I can't fight it much longer / …. / And if I never come back, tell my mother I'm sorry / I will not vanish, and you will not scare me / Try to get through it, try to push through it”. He has openly admitted to being an introvert, and there is no wonder that a running theme in Currents is about his struggles with dealing with his ballooning fame. You are met by whining synths that build on layers of reverb around a clean sounding bass that seem to wither away in insecurity but then emerging out the other side clearer and stronger. The next song ‘Nangs’ affirms the listener that this is indeed a step away from the typical psychedelic rock sounds that one would associate with Tame Impala – modulating synths covered in reverb, string stabs, a bass line that wouldn’t sound lost in a summer soul tune – it’s just a shame it isn’t 5 minutes long instead of 1:47. ‘The Moment’ could have been a track by a Californian dream pop band, with the song based around chiming keyboard chords, but Parker’s distinctive vocals and his psychedelic tinge on the production is unmistakable. This groove driven summer song with echoing vocal harmonies and infectious finger clicking beat has become a favourite of mine on the album, just for being a straight-up beautiful pop song – but I do wonder if I would be saying this if it wasn’t a Tame Impala song.
‘Eventually’ bursts through the gates in what you would think is a fundamental Tame Impala way (with guitar distortion, heavy bass and lots of cymbal) but it soon becomes a whole different affair. At points in the track, with its big ballad production feel, it does sound as if Parker has taken some tips off Kanye West for the choruses, but I’m sure this is exactly the sound he was going for as ultimately this is a break-up song. After a little interlude in ‘Gossip’, where you think it is going to erupt into a Discovery era Daft Punk song but actually finishes before it even starts with some delightful guitar notes added for good measure, ‘The Less I Know The Better’ continues Parker’s new obsession with 80s synth pop. ‘Disciples’ then half restores the faith that things haven’t all gone electronic by featuring a guitar, bass and drums, with synths only having a minor role in the song, but once again it finishes before it has begun. It is the first song that you could imagine to be on a typical Tame Impala album, but then again, it would still only be one of the interim tracks.
‘Cause I’m A Man’ is a slow burner, and surprisingly verges on an R&B borderline or maybe it is a soul ‘45’ that is played at 33rpm. The fact that some people are labelling this song as sexist is ludicrous. The synth-heavy ballad touches on how weak men are and the excuses for their actions; “Cause I'm a man, woman, don't always think before I do / ….. / I'm a human, woman, a greater force I answer to”. You can almost imagine all the layered psyched-out guitars on ‘Reality In Motion’ as if it is screaming to be a trippy rock song, rather than just a cryptic sun-soaked dream pop track. The final track, ‘New Person, Same Old Mistakes’, is one of the stand out tracks on the album. Along with hip-hop resembling bass lines, you could interpret the cleverly structured lyrics as the rhetoric to Parkers insecurities with Tame Impala’s change in musical direction; “I know you don't think it's right / I know that you think it's fake / Maybe fake's what I like / Point is I have the right / …. / I'm thinking it's worth the fight / Soon to be out of sight / …. / Going with what I always longed for”, “Feel like a brand new person / So how will I know that it's right? / In a new direction / So how will I know I've gone too far?”.
This is definitely not the album you would have imagined from Tame Impala, taking more of a disco disposition than psychedelic rock, but it still features lots of the characteristics you would expect from Kevin Parker’s faultless production. Unlike the previous two albums where nearly every song was a winner in its self, Currents comes across as an album to appreciate in its entirety (and it gets better with each listen). I’m sure this album will split the Tame Impala faithful who are longing for another album to get lost to on hallucinogens, but are instead given this soft, profound and beautifully constructed “masterpiece” which consequently is one of the boldest releases I have come across.
Iain Lauder