The newest record from Tame Impala, The Slow Rush, out today, treads a tightrope between flashes of bright neo-shoegaze and somewhat daft approximations of disco. Kevin Parker, Tame Impala in the studio, is blissfully confident enough to attempt this kind of thing, and one has to admire him for how un-self-conscious he is while dancing down this road. I suppose that sort of makes this fourth studio album from Tame Impala a success of some kind.
While The Slow Rush has a similar vibe to Currents (2015), the last studio album from Tame Impala, "Borderline" and other numbers here sound like what we'd get if Justin Timberlake decided to front an indie act. I say that not entirely as an insult as, occasionally here on this record, this all works spectacularly well (in spots, at least). While "Breathe Deeper" bounces and pulses with the kind of vibe that would draw folks to the dance-floor, this one and others here are light-years removed from, say, New Order, or even Erasure, even if, as my contributor Stan Cierlitsky mentioned, "One More Year" does sound a tiny bit like Aphex Twin. Kevin Parker, at least momentarily, pushes this all in a direction that genuinely suggests that an entirely new genre is being born. "Posthumous Forgiveness", for example, sees Parker achieve the same sort of retro, era-bridging joy that Childhood communicated on nearly every cut on their last album. And while the tunes on this Tame Impala record suggest that Kevin Parker is more invested in providing textural pleasures than big catchy indie-rock, the layers of keyboard washes that blanket this whole project of Parker's provide a sheen which glistens, if not always charms.
Still, on paper, a description of The Slow Rush might not make any sense whatsoever. However, "Tomorrow's Dust" and "Instant Destiny", among other numbers here, legitimately delight. Cooing and soaring into hyperspace, Parker makes this work, even with the intentionally cheesy Eighties synth chirping in this one. I suppose Kevin's un-ironic embrace of these forms helps. A single like "Lost in Yesterday" is fairly inconsequential and innocuous, but at least it's got a hook or two about it because, ultimately, this is pop music more than it's indie-pop.
The Slow Rush succeeds as much as it doesn't, and it seems a far better record in small doses. Parker is still intent on pursuing his own odd pop muse via studio wizardry, so he's never going to be Timberlake, obviously. But he does, for brief moments here, like when the drums crash on "It Might Be Time", produce the kind of material that should earn a tingle up the spine of anyone who grew up listening to disco rarities, or buying dance remix 12-inch singles in US import bins in the Reagan years.
The Slow Rush is out today via the usual outlets.
More details on Tame Impala via the official website, or the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Matt Sav]