Tame Impala's 'Currents'
Patrick Lacy Scott | 26th July 2015
Currents’ subtlety works in its favour and also subtracts from the power and punch of the first two albums but Kevin Parker has had his heart-broken and this is his album of anguish.
Tame Impala have stuck to their psychedelic sensibilities, whilst tending towards a synthesised sonic, a cooler, more electronic set up. The music on the album is derived from soul and R&B rather than rock. Similar themes run through the album, a sense of alienation and longing but now Parker has experience he is more level minded, less snappy.
“They say people never change/But that’s bullshit” is simultaneously heart-breaking and reassuring at the same time like much of the album. ‘Eventually’, a rallying psych-ballad mid way through Currents, encaptures a messy break up and a love lost that resonates all through the album. “Wish I could turn you back into a stranger” nauseously regretful but comfortingly relatable. “I know that you’ll be happier/And I know that I will too/Eventually” a line so beautifully bittersweet in its sentiment.
Although tracks such as ‘The Less I Know the Better’ are reminiscent of the old Tame Impala, it is nothing more than an echo, reverberating through airwaves. It is almost poetic that it sits just before the eerie verse, ‘Past Life’ that tells of a man in a chance meeting with his lover from a previous existence.
The tour de force of the record is Parker’s ‘I’m a Man’ a regretful ballad, drenched in soul and a smooth bassline and hook pairing. Parker’s lyrics balances the wit and woe beautifully. “Because I’m a man woman/Don’t always think before I do”.
‘Currents’ is a smoother, more refined Tame Impala. If ‘Lonerism’ and ‘Innervision’ are a psychedelic trip, then ‘Currents’ is the comedown full of sorrow and pining. It doesn’t have the same raw appeal as the first two albums but Parker still has a beautiful ability to keep me on the edge of my seat, lifting me up and dragging me down with his creations and touch.
‘Currents’ is a goodbye letter to a love, quite fitting, as we say goodbye to the Tame Impala we initially fell in love with, but that’s ok as Parker closes the album with reassuring lines, “Feel like a brand new person/So happy to know that it's right/In a new direction”.
Photo Credit: Facebook
Photo Credit: Facebook