Hailing from Perth, Australia, Tame Impala returns to the scene this autumn with frontman Kevin Parker’s brainchild ‘Lonerism‘; a distinctive work of psychedelic rock happily married to dream pop. After their 2011 Rolling Stone award of ‘Album of the Year’ for ‘Innerspeaker’, their reign continues with this multifarious creation that is somehow classically modern.
Opener ‘Be Above It‘ throws you into the fray, a deep chanting drum interlaced with volatile, wispy vocals all perfectly orchestrated with reverberating guitar twangs. Second track ‘Endors Toi‘ offers a similar buffet of sounds, a beast of endearing synth and raunchy electric guitar, remindful of emphatic former tour mates The Black Keys.
The band set a precedent for their own genre by coupling Beatles charm and solid melodic vibrance with kaleidoscopic synth and a landscape of contemporary production tricks that let the ears travel; ‘Apocalypse Dreams‘ and ‘Mind Mischief‘ being prime examples of this.
Parker’s actual travels also contributed to the production of the album, namely his individual lamenting in Perth and Paris for two years, swimming in his own head with tunes and tracks he feared inadequate. The finished product proves him wrong – the chromatic, soft-pulse quality of ‘Why Won’t They Talk To Me‘ and contrasting bass-injected rumble of ‘Elephant‘ achieve sound euphoria like some would say only drugs do.
But then again, who needs drugs when you’ve tapped into the warped dimension inside Kevin Parker’s skull? “I’m always surprised whenever someone tells me Tame Impala reminds them of getting blazed,” he tells The Guardian. “People’s imaginations and dreams are more fucked-up than drugs; it’s just the sound of music in my head.”
This inspired “sound” went on to concoct symphonious scales on the long, balmy ‘Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control‘ and windswept electric echoes on closer ‘Sun’s Coming Up’.
Though backed by a band on stage, the elements of ‘Lonerism‘ came together at the hand of Parker alone, the self-declared loner piecing together the music in his confinement before involving musicians from other Aussie bands such as Pond.
At the end of the day, a loner with an endearing accent has authored something for the music masses. The refined psychedelia and memorability of the album is like MGMT’s indie-rock cousin that drank the bottled essence of John Lennon and came into his own.
Lonerism is released on October 8th. You can stream it in full below and buy it here.
