Tame Impala: The Slow Rush | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Tame Impala’s fourth studio album The Slow Rush landed today. An album examining time and the curious relationship we have with it; our nostalgia for the past and anxiety about the future. Since the release of 2015’s Currents Kevin Parker has headlined Coachella, sold out international stadiums, collaborated with artists from Lady Gaga to ASAP Rocky and well-and-truly become a household name. Now with the release of The Slow Rush, Kevin Parker assumes his final form: morphing from pysch-rock darling to pop-powerhouse.

In the months since its release as a single, Borderline has received an album rework. Parker has lifted that bodacious bassline right to the front of the mix and added some extra percussive elements, including lush rolling timpani flourishes.

The bass-driven groove and hooky keys of Breathe Deeper sees Parker fluid, perhaps drawing on the time spent collaborating with Travis Scott or Theophilus London to infuse disco and hip-hop sensibilities into the six-minute sprawler. As with previous single Posthumous Forgiveness, Breathe Deeper is split into two distinct parts, the latter climbing to an angular synth-driven conclusion.

As with any Tame Impala record, the devil truly is in the details: Parker’s genius attention to the fortified rhythmic elements that frame every song throughout The Slow Rush are the crowning jewel in his shiny pop crown. Parker’s dream-like falsetto, his other calling-card, is never far from the mix, and really shines on album closer One More Hour.

As time is such an integral theme of The Slow Rush, it is hard to ignore Parker’s musical legacy and his trajectory over his three previous albums. For all its gorgeous, layered nuance The Slow Rush lacks what every other Tame record delivered in spades: unmistakable, hook-laden, ear-wormy singles. On Innerspeaker, Solitude Is Bliss oscillating wavy guitars hypnotised me. Lonerism delivered sonic stomping sucker-punch Elephant and morose, psychedelic anthem Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, while Currents saw the dawning of a new pop-fused era with The Less I Know The Better; easily Parker’s most identifiable melody.

In the half a decade wait between Currents and The Slow Rush, I let my expectations run away with me, anticipating more and bigger and shinier, but Kevin Parker doesn’t owe me shit. The Slow Rush is a fully realised, arcing pop journey even without the definitive radio-friendly moments of yore.

- Fiona Priddey.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gs-MtItyOFc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>