Tame Impala
Lonerism
12 Track, LP (2012, Modular)
Related: Tame Impala.
Let’s start with the most obvious question: where are the guitars? OK, there are guitars on Lonerism, but that molasses-thick sonic crunch that characterised Innerspeaker has vanished. If the touchstones for their debut were stoner and shoegaze, this time Kevin Parker has cracked out his ’90s/’00s US indie – Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, early Mercury Rev – and gone “Yep, thanks, I’ll have some of that.”
It comes in the wake of Parker’s explanation that Tame Impala and related projects are basically parts of one big multi-faceted thing, which would explain why Pond’s Beard, Wives, Denim sounds rather more like what you’d expect from a second Tame Impala LP. That Kevin Parker is taking things in a new direction is made clear from the very beginning: a panting loop of a near-whispered “Gotta be above it” that gives the opening track its title.
The glam stomp of ‘Elephant’ is something of a red herring. For one thing, it’s the only song that sounds like there might have been more than one musician in the room when it was recorded. It’s also easily the weakest song, if the only one that sounds fairly straightforward to play live – although I can’t wait to hear the magnificent psych ballad ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ rebuilt for the stage.
Guitars are present: they’re just hidden. The rhythm guitar that underpins the superb ‘Enders Toi’ is phased into nothingness and overlaid with bubbling synths before an overdriven guitar solo scythes out of the speakers, while the propulsive ‘Music to Walk Home By’ chugs along on a spry bass line.
Apocalypse Dreams by Tame Impala
The key-heavy ‘Apocalypse Dreams’ is the first of several tracks that suggest there’s a whole lot of Elephant 6 lurking in Parker’s record collection: the minute-long ‘She Just Won’t Believe Me’ is a pointless trifle similar to the transitional sketches on The Apples in Stereo’s Her Wallpaper Reverie, but ‘Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything That We Could Control’ should have Olivia Tremor Control kicking themselves for having missed a trick. It builds things up powerfully before the album ends with the rudimentary piano waltz ‘Sun’s Coming Up’, fading in like an AM station beamed from outer space before cutting into a psych-guitar-and-sound-effect fadeout in the grand tradition of pointless hidden tracks.
So it’s ambitious, sprawling and consistently unexpected. But is it, well, good? The weakness with Lonerism is that it sounds like a collection of songs rather than an album with a beginning, middle and end. It’s also incredibly top-heavy: there’s very little bottom end, and the shrill guitar tones, keening synths and Parker’s breathy, often falsetto vocals means everything sounds like it was mastered on a cocaine bender.
Taken in context with everything else Parker and company are involved in, Lonerism is fascinating. On its own, though, it seems less like an exciting new direction than an admittedly charming creative cul-de-sac.
by Andrew P Street
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I don't agree - I think it's better than a ''creative cul-de-sac'' - but this is a very fair review. Nice one, Street.
I've not read many reviews where I disagree entirely but this is one of them! Elephant may be a red herring but it is one of the best songs of the year, in no way, shape or form is it the weakest song on the album... that's crazy!
Enders Toi is terrific, as is Apocalypse Dreams. And Nothing That Has Happened. The only bad thing about She Won't Believe Me is how short it is. And the last track ties up the whole Beatles vibe very nicely. An easy 4/5!
I endorse / recommend this product / service.
Dude has songwriting chops. So many ear worm melodies.
is it in shops yet
comes out today
Released today, so it should be
'Taken in context with everything else Parker and company are involved in, Lonerism is fascinating. On its own, though, it seems less like an exciting new direction than an admittedly charming creative cul-de-sac.'
On its own its a cul-de-sac? How can one make such a bleak assessment of a band's 'direction' by removing the work from the context of its other works? Maybe 'on its own its fascinating, but in context its a creative cul-de-sac' ..? The road to the dead end had to come from somewhere after all...
Bah...I dunno. Maybe it's because even as someone unfamiliar with the context, I find those tunes up there fascinating.
Good review, mostly fair and some decent insights. This band and songwriter are bloody brilliant IMO. My world at least is better off with Tame Impala - may they continue to soar.
APStreet - how do you know what a cocaine bender feels like? Is this an admission of drug binges? Does your family know about this? ;-)
I like Elephant
It sounds good to these ears.
I was always taught that you need three points to draw a line. This review displays a disregard for the tenets of cartesian geometry.
Five star review in The Guardian UK today
Even the readers comments are positive so far...unheard of!
sounds very Flips-ish, half in a good way. not convinced by those two tracks, but I'm curious
alexis petridis' review is great, cept for the recorded in the bedroom bit.
i'd love to have that place tame impala recorded their first album in as my house of residence. worth several million, isn't it?
It was for sale whatwhat.
Been waiting for this album for a couple of years, pretty good so far.
I'm missing the Elephant 6 sounds here.
Has some design company specialising in cover stickers got all the contracts for Australian album cover design this year?
NME love it: http://www.nme.com/reviews/tame-impala/13755
There's another review out there, perhaps it's the Pitchfork one, that makes a point in distinguishing this record and band from ''legions of bands within the psychedelic genre who offer forth endless permutations of 'Tomorrow Never Knows''' or something like that, so NME review is a funny counterpoint to that... whatever it is.. I dunno. I read a lot of stuff and it was somewhere. Eh.
I betcha tomorrow never knew!
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i read it on the internet so it must be true.
Ah I see. Thanks for the confirmation. Sorry to doubt you.
the opener is really, really cool. my interest wanes steadily after that.
great show tonight
the extended closer of Half Glass was huge!
thinking more about this gig, they really have improved a lot as a live band I think, great sound last night. Kevin was pretty animated and chatty as well
still pull a pretty jerky crowd
I was chatting to my mate in the states who said ''So, what's with Tame Impala? Are they like, a jock band or something?''
Apparently the show he saw had a pretty horrible rapey boofhead guy kind of audience. Quite odd!
I seem to remember someone recently saying the same about a crowd for The Black Angels in the states. Must be an American thing
i always put these shows down as being attractive to people that don't go out to gigs a lot, so they miss a bit of common sense and decency on how to act at gigs. these bands that have a bit of JJJ/zeitgeisty sort of boom going on. it wasn't so much rapey boofhead, more it seemed it was full of really inconsiderate/rude people. get right stuck into the first few bars of Elephant, dancing and jumping all over the place, get board in the middle and talk loud to your mates, play with your phone and so on, repeat for most songs. but i am an old fart these days i know that
also, first time I'd seen security at the Forum shooing people away from those standing bits in front of the booths. well it was really one security dude that seemed to care about it. when the band cam on though these spots filled up quick
Jockadelica!
I reckon you've nailed it, Magoo.
*bored in the middle
*boned in the middle
**fnarr fnarr!
they put on a great show, but the crowd was weird - surfer dudes rubbing up against society girls in pearls. lots of folks on pills it would seem.
i can't figure out why this album is getting so much end of year love. it's a pretty good album, but as this review points out elephant sticks out like a sore thumb and the album never gets back on track afterward.
spose it could be worse, but is this really the ''best'' of 2012?
elephant is probably where the bogan love begins
No, Lower Plenty's Hard Rubbish is...
listened to this yesterday, and whilst i was surprised at how 'non-shit' it is, it is still pretty impotent and forgettable. great to listen to in the background, but i still don't understand the huge amount of love it is getting either.
it's just a good pop record, and way better than anything else in the mainstream
'Backwards' will be top 10 in hottest 100, possibly top 5. 'Elephant' up there too.
So?
It's only good because everything else is so shit gabbo.