By Released July 17th, Tame Impala’s new album ‘Currents’ has got everyone talking and has certainly rattled out cages here at ICM.
The sound of spacy, guitar-heavy psychedelic pop has never really gone out of fashion since the Beatles brought it to the mainstream in the late ’60s, with proponents like Pink Floyd and the Flaming Lips managing to make long careers out of mining its every seam.
Tame Impala followed the same crazy route and pulled it off with immense success. Every song has an element of every musical device possible, it’s crazy. It’s like a cesspool bathtub of musical infusion. You’ve got 80’s funky beats, psychedelic synth, dizzying loops of electronic fade and everything in between.
The 2012 album ‘Lonerism’ gathered universal praise, launching the group into the upper tier of festival lineups and small time fan followings. ‘Currents’. Well. It’s great. Don’t get me wrong, it’s starts off fantastically. ‘Let it Happen’ has the makings of a great dance track. And then we move to ‘Nangs’. This is where I feel like this album becomes the lazier brother of Lonerism. And it happens more than once.
It’s such a roller coaster. One minute you’re dancing, the next it’s overly chill and ‘Disciples’ comes along and kicks you in the face.
There’s a new world to play in on Currents, a fantastical vision that cranks up the saturation and weakens the laws of physics. Do we fault Tame Impala for changing? Do we tease them for trying to be Prince? No — that’s just the fluctuation of life represented in sound. Tame Impala has departed to new territory, even through the seemingly basic, heady repetition of guitars and synths. It’s not an album worth getting lost into, because the journey itself isn’t all rainbows and butterflies, but man, ‘Let it Happen’ will take you far beyond the norms of reality!
Listen to ‘Let It Happen’ below.
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