Source: Amazon
Guys, I really tried to dislike this album. Honestly, I didn’t want to enjoy it. When I heard that Kevin Parker, the Tame Impala nucleus, was directing their third LP towards dance music, I was pretty hesitant. The notion of an artist ‘re-inventing’ themselves with a focus on beats and dance is so clichéd and overdone that the mere mention of it invites me to scream. In fact, the only group I can think of who have successfully “gone electro” are The Strokes, whose fourth album Angles (2011), managed to introduce plenty of beats and dance into the mix without sounding like total shit.
So having the “electro” conversation with Tame Impala was a little concerning.
Their first album, Innerspeaker (2010), was a strong foray into to the realm of psych-rock, and continued the good work of early 70s psych pioneers like The 13th Floor Elevators. Their second, Lonerism (2012), while still firmly planted in psychedelics, was much heavier, with a more alternative bent. However these albums weren’t perfect, and I felt that they both showed that Parker, despite his obvious talent, needed to learn to focus, and perhaps to cull. They were both bloated and probably could have been more effective if they were shorter.
To this end, Currents is only a partial improvement.
And that’s a real shame, because there are loads of great things about this album. Quite obviously, as an album that takes plenty of cues from the world of 80s electronica, front and centre of the album are some really rich, gorgeous synths. Parker, who has a great track record in crafting detailed atmospheres in his music, has again outdone himself in this respect. The various keyboards and synthesisers that make up the bulk of Currents are absolutely beautiful, with a real depth and character to them. I really loved the lo-fi attitude of early Tame Impala music, and although it’s hard to bring a lo-fi feel to electronic instruments, Parker manages to mix in some lovely, grainy ambience, which really helps the music feel real.
These lovely synth sounds are complemented by that classic “Tame Impala bass”. It’s punchy and compressed, and isn’t afraid to be more than mere accompaniment to the melodies. Hearing the bass and synths work together is a real highlight on Currents. I noticed this first on “The Less I Know The Better”, and I love that it takes about 25 minutes of listening before that crunchy, plodding bass drops in, almost unexpectedly. It’s cool stuff.
It’s tracks like that where Currents really starts to shine. But, the album is, at times, guilty of getting stuck in a slow, repetitive groove. It reminds me of Kyuss, and of some early Queens of the Stone Age material, which had a very trance-y, hypnotic “robot rock” feel. I feel that these moments don’t quite work on Currents, probably because they occur so frequently through the album. The mid-album sludge of “Past Life” is particularly guilty of this sin (and is without a doubt the worst track on the album – WTF is with that spoken word stuff?). Fortunately, that pain is quickly alleviated by the unstoppable groove of “Disciples”.
Although I like that Tame Impala have gone for consistency, I have to admit that I’m incredibly tired of the distinctive sound of gated and filtered drums that Tame Impala have favoured recently. It’s not a new thing for Parker, and it’s certainly true that plenty of the drum sounds on Lonerism were heavily processed. It doesn’t come off perfectly on Currents though; Parker, who records all the instruments on each album, isn’t the world’s most nuanced drummer, and I can’t help but feel that having a different set of hands behind the kit might have brought a different feel to some of the more boring parts of the album.
It’s really quite a shame that Currents has such pronounced flat-spots, because there are also plenty of high points on the album: the wonderfully filtered guitar riff at the end of “Let It Happen” is absolutely scorching, the chiming keys at the end of “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” are bloody gorgeous. The way they play with those dark synths is wonderfully hypnotic; and the different phrasings between the high- and low-pitched synths on “Yes I’m Changing” are incredibly clever, and really interesting to listen to.
Overall though, it’s a pretty good album. Kevin Parker, when he puts his mind to it, can create some incredible soundscapes, and he writes very catchy melodies. However, he’s definitely guilty of getting a bit too focused on trying to create a ‘groove’ within each track, and (especially on cuts like “Eventually”) at times this can result in some boring bits. Although I am going to miss hearing Tame Impala make sounds like this , I’m excited to see where they take this iteration of the band from a live perspective. If you were lucky enough to be at Splendour this weekend, you still should have checked them out!
★★★
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