Kevin Parker, the artist behind the magic that is Tame Impala, gifted us with a new LP this Valentine’s Day! This 12-track LP called “The Slow Rush” has been long overdue. Over the course of 2019, he released a couple of singles giving us a sneak peek of the new album.
He released the first single “Borderline” back in April of 2019. The song is blanketed in the vibey sound of his Juno and his psychedelic call-back vocals. Fast forward to the end of 2019, Kevin releases “It Might Be Time” and “Posthumous Forgiveness” just a couple months apart.
“Posthumous Forgiveness” is one of my favorite tracks of the singles. In this track, Kevin reminisces on his relationship with his late father, Jerry. The upbeat instrumentals in contrast to the emotional lyrics consumed me, I had this track on repeat breaking it down and hearing his story.
“& you could store an ocean in the holes
In any of the explanations that you gave
& while you still have time, you had a chance
But you decided to take all of your sorrys to the grave”
“Posthumous Forgiveness” // Tame Impala
Late Thursday night I rolled a joint, sat on my bed with my cat, got comfortable and pressed play. On Spotify, “The Slow Rush” has an added feature where you can experience the “Slow Rush Time Warp”! This includes some behind the scenes of Kevin talking about some of the songs in more detail. It almost felt like I was having a personal listening party with Kevin Parker!
The album opens with a symphonic choir singing “One More Year” and leads you into a journey. The album carries onto my current favorite track on the album “Instant Destiny”. It has a catchy chorus that will be stuck in your head forever, in the best way.
After ‘Instant Destiny”, comes “Borderline” 2.0 which had such a groovy bass line and is almost like a remix of the first release of Borderline! Kevin talks a little bit about how this was the first bit he wrote for the album but took him the longest to nail.
“Breathe Deeper” is the next new song, and has its own sound that is so contrasting to the rest of the album and truly stands alone while flowing so perfectly at the same time. This song has an 80’s throwback hip-hop beat. It is almost like Biggie Smalls is about to hop on the track.
Jumping into a sound that makes me feel like I’m walking on the sunset, comes “Tomorrow’s Dust”. This song particularly was so beautiful listening to with headphones on to experience the stereo on this one. The arpeggio with a phaser panning back and forth between both ears was magical.
“ThiS is a sOnG aboUT OptIMiSm. It’s called On TracK.” The time warp before “On Track” leads us into the second half of the album. This song I personally feel is so reminiscent of his “Currents” album with its electrifying ballad.
Moving forward in the album is “Lost in Yesterday” which was his last single before the whole album was released. Then shortly after, a “through the decades” style music video was also released.
The most unique track on this album, in my opinion, is “Is it True”. It’s another catchy one that has an eccentric bass line that makes me want to groove! Kevin admits in the behind the scenes that he didn’t think this track would be a Tame Impala song, and now “couldn’t imagine the album without it”.
Following that is “It Might Be Time”, which carries the theme of the album, moving forward to the next chapter and making space for change.
Between a time warp, The song “Glimmer” opens up with a radio-sounding voice that jumps right into another 80’s-style beat. This song Kevin says is “kind of accidental” although it is so dreamy.
Ending the album is “One More Hour”, which literally made my jaw drop. This seven-minute song has some serious rock and roll roots to its sound. The raw grand piano loop was such a beautiful shift of sound from Tame Impala and it was so fresh. I think this is truly the most intriguing song on the album.
In short, I am completely blown away by this album and the wait was well worth it! Every song had its own uniqueness while staying so cohesive with the theme of the album.
What is your favorite song on the album?
After missing him at Desert Daze 2018, I’m hoping Kevin comes back to bless California with his presence at Desert Daze 2020!
I’ll definitely catch him otherwise on his American tour in March. Will I see you there?
