Tame Impala

Tame Impala: The Slow Rush

Annalicia Urtiaga

Tame Impala is an artist who began in 2007 in Perth, Australia. The real name of the Australian multi-instrumentalist is Kevin Parker. Parker is extremely talented, as he writes, plays, records, and now produces everything himself. His music is full of many instruments, but is mostly known for specifically loud guitar and trippy/psychedelic sounds. It could be best described as alternative/indie rock.

Tame Impala began making psych-rock music for “outsiders”, but in the 2010’s has shifted slightly towards electro-pop. This making his music more mainstream, and expanding his fanbase substantially in the last few years. During this time, albums such as 2012’s Lonerism and 2015’s Currents were dropped and did fairly well. These albums easily stand their ground, but their is obvious progression in sound when listened to sequentially. His song Let it Happen was a song in particular that really helped him expand to a new audience, the song charted at number 28 on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart.

This year, Tame Impala released his fourth album, The Slow Rush. This album features more slow, psychedelic sounds. Parker’s sounds and lyrics are not made to be “clever” and “catchy”, but is more of a reflection of the battles he fights with himself. Between staying above or going under the darkest thoughts. This album resonates with that as well, and every sound comes from Parker alone, playing every riff and strong melody. Overall, it is an extremely impressive album with psychedelic sounds that can just take you away.