When preparing to review The Slow Rush, the latest album from Tame Impala, I was surprised to discover that this is their fourth album and I own all of them! Listening habits indicate that I’ve liked them all but rarely go back to listen. Thus The Slow Rush is the first album from Australian Kevin Parker that I’ve ever done a true deep dive into.
With it’s altered vocals and dance beat, lead track “One More Year” could be Daft Punk before “Instant Destiny” tells of Parker proposing to his wife while riding a solid groove. “It Might Be Time” features 70s pianos/synths with a menacing siren suddenly appearing, it’s Supertramp meets The Bomb Squad. While the lyrics on a few tracks are too on the nose, such as third single “Posthumous Forgiveness”, others like the Zero 7 sounding “Tomorrow’s Dust” have a self-improvement bent.
The cover of The Slow Rush features sand in a house, like the sands of time on “Lost in Yesterday”. It’s all very smooth and meticulous. Along with the uplifting lyrics, this is sugar to a lot of an audience raised on EDM. The hooks come from everywhere like on the repeated “I can” line on “Breathe Deeper”. Tame Impala crosses several different genres and do it very well. For most of The Slow Rush, it’s hard not to ride the many grooves right to the end.
8/10
The Light Appears 