Tame Impala has officially cemented its place in the modern rock scene with its second album, “Lonerism.” Anyone that hasn’t heard the name soon will.
Simply put, “Lonerism” is fantastic. The jazzy, bluesy and psychedelic vibes come together to produce the signature Tame Impala sound: the sonic embodiment of astral projection. Though this is a similar sound from the first album, there’s nothing repetitive or predictable about it.
As the name suggests, the album deals largely with themes of isolation. A few song titles include “Why Won’t They Talk to Me?,” “Keep On Lying” and “She Just Won’t Believe Me.” Loneliness may not come to attention immediately when thinking of hippy, mind-opening music, but the emotion adds an intimate factor to the music. The man behind Tame Impala, Kevin Parker, draws the listener in and amplifies the sensation to a one-on-one out of body journey.
Tame Impala is Parker’s project; he writes and records most of the music. The group’s debut album, “Innerspeaker,” put the band on the map, establishing Parker as an effective songwriter who knows how to tastefully combine psychedelia with memorable indie-pop songwriting. This artistic balance is key to the music’s success. “Lonerism” isn’t just your run of the mill drony, vision-inducing music.
The album opens with “Be Above It.” The track starts with a hypnotic sample of a voice rapidly repeating “Gotta Be Above It.” Soon enough, a couple of wonderfully euphoric synths are introduced. Accompanied by Parker’s John Lennon-esque voice, they fill out the song and create a rich atmosphere.
It’s not just Parker’s voice that’s reminiscent of the Beatles, however. One of the things that makes Tame Impala’s music a cut above the rest is how Parker plays with an accessible pop themes and adds a new dimension of sounds to make his songs refreshing and engaging much like the way Lennon and Paul McCartney did on “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
The album’s first single “Elephant” shows more of the familiar than its peers. The songs starts off with a chugging, palm-muted guitar that’s 100 percent heavy metal. It sounds like a more aggressive version of the intro to “Suits.” Quickly though, organs and synths begin to find their way into the picture. Eventually the song leads into an ultra spacey synth-solo. It all settles back to the straightforward driving riff before the end.
One of the more dynamic tracks on the record, “Apocalypse Dreams,” starts off relatively devoid of mind-altering spaciness with some piano and up-tempo drums. After a verse, the song picks up more energy and becomes more dense before the sound thins out again. There’s a sudden rest in the middle of the song, and the music shifts to a slower-paced, ambient jam which ultimately fades out.
The only downside of the album is that there aren’t any breaks in the dense sound. Right from the first track, Parker creates an incredibly rich atmosphere, and though there are plenty of different synths, filters and dynamic tempos, there aren’t many calm moments in “Lonerism.” It’s certainly mitigated by the fact that the music is superbly written, but it would have been great to hear an acoustic guitar here or there to change up the sound.
“Lonerism” is many things. It’s an example of the Beatles’ influence still paying dividends. It’s a testament to modern technology, that one man is able to make something that took four or more people months in the studio. But, ultimately, it’s a reminder that even today, there are still plenty of new sounds to explore and new takes to be had on a seemingly exhausted genre.
““ Abhay Malik
Email Malik at amalik@media.ucla.edu.