Currents (LP)
Tame Impala
Amoeba Review
07/13/2015
Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker shifts gears a bit for his third album, drawing as much from ’80s soul and disco as he has from prog-rock and psychedelia. Though such a change could threaten to derail a good thing, Parker is the consummate perfectionist, and Currents’ various strands are braided together without a hair out of place. Opener “Let It Happen” builds from a proggish uphill chug into a psychedelic freakout and finally hits its stride with a silky disco beat. “Eventually” relies on rock dynamics but uses fat synthesizers to achieve its booming changes. And a tune like crystalline psych-funk jam “The Less I Know the Better” seems to marry all of Parker’s influences into a perfect amalgam, calling to mind everything from Michael Jackson to My Bloody Valentine. Through it all, Parker is the same chill knob-twiddler he’s always been, but he’s come out of his shell a bit more—it takes confidence to command a song like “’Cause I’m a Man,” which gloriously oozes ’70s cheese, akin to Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver” or 10CC’s “I’m Not in Love.” From the get-go, Parker himself seems to be reflecting on the change—“Something’s trying to get out/And it’s never been closer,” he sings on “Let It Happen.” It’s confirmed by the time we get to “Yes I’m Changing,” ostensibly a breakup ballad but it seems more pointedly about an introvert accepting accidental stardom (“Curse indulgence and despise the fame/There’s a world out there and it's calling my name”). This lyrical theme, the sense that Parker is coming into his own as not only a songwriter and performer but human being, gives Currents a unity that even the superb Lonerism didn’t have. In every way, Currents is a complete triumph, both as a fascinating headphones album for production junkies and as a set of immaculate psych-pop songs that feels endlessly giving.
Track Listing
Side A Titles |
Artist |
Length |
---|---|---|
1.
Let It Happen
|
Tame Impala | 07:46 |
2.
Nangs
|
Tame Impala | 01:47 |
3.
The Moment
|
Tame Impala | 04:15 |
Side B Titles |
Artist |
Length |
---|---|---|
1.
Yes I'm Changing
|
Tame Impala | 04:30 |
2.
Eventually
|
Tame Impala | 05:19 |
3.
Gossip
|
Tame Impala | 00:55 |
Side C Titles |
Artist |
Length |
---|---|---|
1.
The Less I Know The Better
|
Tame Impala | 03:38 |
2.
Past Life
|
Tame Impala | 03:47 |
3.
Disciples
|
Tame Impala | 01:48 |
4.
'Cause I'm A Man
|
Tame Impala | 04:01 |
Side D Titles |
Artist |
Length |
---|---|---|
1.
Reality In Motion
|
Tame Impala | 04:12 |
2.
Love/Paranoia
|
Tame Impala | 03:06 |
3.
New Person, Same Old Mistakes
|
Tame Impala | 06:02 |
User Reviews
5stone
10/30/2017 Great album but it's unfortunate that Amoeba is rating this as Essential Vinyl. It would be if the actual vinyl pressing wasn't TERRIBLE. Just check out all the negative reviews of the vinyl pressings on Discogs. Amoeba: please take account of the quality of the pressing if you're going to label it as essential. Like don't ever put a reissue from the 4 Men with Beards label on this list; they have the worst in the business.