Spectreview: Tame Impala – The Slow Rush

-DARK ORANGE-

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“I just want a glimmer of hope”

In 2009 Kevin Parker pulled a K-turn and drove away from his Astronomy final to pursue his musical dreams, and ever since then he’s achieved a level of success that few rock musicians in the 2010s could claim. His first two albums under producer Dave Fridmann helped bring psychedelia back into the musical frontier, but he’s also triumphed as a producer, his fans running the gamut from indie darlings to pop titans and untouchable rappers. Considering his track record, Tame Impala’s fourth record faces as much scrutiny as anything Parker’s put out, a fact that has almost certainly affected his approach to both its composition and its rollout. It’s classic overthinking from a closet perfectionist: almost half of these songs have already been released as singles, each one tied together with a conceptual statement from the artist, no gaps left unsealed. Like Lindsey Buckingham with fingernail-clipped hair, it’s not far off to imagine Parker feeling like a circus animal in a cage, exhausted and subservient to people who expect nothing but the best of his efforts. It’s telling that one of his favorite songs off the record is its shortest, safest track: a two-minute tossed-off interlude built from tape loops. It’s the death of the artistic process when you feel everything must be ably explained in non-artistic terms.

Here’s some good news: The Slow Rush is an immaculate sensory experience. That’s nothing new from Tame Impala, but it might be the act’s first album to unquestionably work best under a sensory context. Even more than the synth-heavy Currents, keyboards dominate the landscape, with tracks that draw heavily from 80’s funk and dance pop (extrapolating, we can assume his next work will prominently feature guest credits from Max Martin). As we’ve come to expect from Parker, the production is simply exquisite, with big side-chained drums and ultra-vibrant textures. Whatever you may think of the arrangements, it’s almost impossible to refrain from grooving to these tracks, even when listening on headphones. Then again, some of these arrangements are just as exquisite. It’s been said before, but Parker’s bass lines remain some of the most inspired of their kind in the last ten years of popular music, as evidenced on the surprise banger “Breathe Deeper” (complete with breathtakingly electric coda) and the slinky, disco-beat “Borderline”. It’s also reassuring to see Parker take tiny but significant steps into new territory; “Is It True” feels like a Blood Orange jam that’s 100% quantized, while smooth techno-lite opener “One More Year” skillfully builds over its runtime akin to prime Lindstrøm with a maximalist edge. If Parker were aiming to make a pop record aimed at the party scene, The Slow Rush would succeed based on sugary sonics alone and that would be the end of the conversation.

As art, though, it must be said: there is indeed something missing in the midst of the unrelenting grooves. Parker’s shift from anxiety-ridden introspection to cautious optimism is the most likely culprit, which is admittedly not terribly fair to say considering how much harder it is to make substantial art from a place of contentment. For what it’s worth, Parker’s lyrical shift to the sunny side seems legitimate enough when you take into account his new marriage (a topic that’s covered in depth on several tracks) and his objective success as a musician. Still, there’s a fine line between profundity and platitude, and despite some genuinely touching moments (not the least of which is the stream-of-consciousness musings that close “Posthumous Forgivings”) on The Slow Rush Parker rides more on the latter side of that fence. His self-assurance in “On Track” is well-intentioned but unconvincing, the pre-marital bliss on “Instant Destiny” comes off as cloyingly sweet, and the call to action against nostalgia in “Lost In Yesterday”, while adequately structured, feels somewhat disingenuous amid the styles of music that Parker lifts from throughout the record. It might be more a criticism of his general approach to lyric writing than a direct appraisal of this particular record (Tame Impala lyrics have always fluctuated between simple yet effective mantras and blithe stonerisms), and indeed this would be the perfect environment for such blitheness, but such a brightly-shining sun can’t help but illuminate how superficial this collection feels in comparison to what we’ve seen from the project.

There’s also an argument to be made that these songs just don’t stick in the mind compared to key highs from past albums, with nothing here as fresh as Lonerism’s effortless propulsive “Elephant” or Currents’ swaggering “The Less I Know The Better”. Maybe it’s not yet time to discuss that until this record’s finally far enough in the rearview to assess in retrospect. Yet would that be doing a disservice to Parker’s overall message though? In the face of those aforementioned expectations, with all those staring eyes, it’s difficult to ascertain where his focus on the present tense is coming from. Is it a product of genuine reassurance? A result of his anxiety about letting down his fans? Regardless, The Slow Rush may not bear Tame Impala’s usual introverted gravitas, but it’s clearly designed to be appreciated outside of yourself: close your eyes, imbibe a little, get out on the dance floor and enjoy the moment. Don’t think about it.

Recommended for sweating it out.