If you’re looking for new music to get into before the summer ends, why not try out some psychedelic rock? Tame Impala’s latest album “Currents” will submerse you completely in the genre, but it makes the ride an easy one. Called a “soundtrack to life’s turbulent flow,” the album showcases singer Kevin Parker’s talent as well as the fact his genuine excitement and happiness with making music.
An adventurous track list, “Currents” is laced with classic psychedelic synthesizer as well as steady percussion and thoughtful and powerful vocals. Parker tells a story with each individual song, but they are all tied together in a beautiful tale of embracing the changes life brings.
The album moves through '70s-style grooves to '80s-style ballads, all with a light modern overtone that sets it apart from true '70s music. “Let It Happen,” the album’s first song, is a long intro that fades easily from steady percussion to heavy synthesizer and back, using smooth transitions and a catchy beat. The tune sets the listener up to hear a variety of blended sounds throughout the rest of the album.
“Currents” intersperses short, instrumentally-focused tracks with long ballads and deep messages. Whereas some songs are only a handful of lyrics, like “Nangs,” some are very vocal-based, like “Yes I’m Changing,” a slower, blended melody with a powerful theme of embracing change.
“Eventually,” one of the album’s best songs, is chock full of heavy chords, interspersed with a slow organ melody. A thought comes to mind during this song that rings true for the rest of “Currents”: even when the vocals sound sad, the messages that Parker are conveying are mostly positive. The words are sometimes incredibly simple, and yet the listener will be entranced by the power of Tame Impala’s insightful music.
Towards the end of the album, the genre strays slightly from pure '70s funk to more '80s rock. A bitterness seeps into his lyrics in “The Less I Know The Better,” and “Cause I’m A Man” sounds almost like it should have been played at a 1984 prom. However, despite the handful of songs that stand out musically, the album retains a flawless cohesiveness that makes you want to listen to the whole thing in one sitting.
The album comes full circle by the end, playing back into the psychedelics with “Reality In Motion,” and even bringing back some of the repetitive techniques used at the beginning of the album. “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” is the closer, and Parker couldn’t have picked a better song to bring together the emotions and ideas expressed throughout the album.
If you’re willing to try out a little funk, “Currents” is a fantastic, trippy ride that is definitely worth embarking on. Each story told by the music is beautiful and powerful, and it will show you the psychedelic world through a contemporary screen. The artful tunes will blow you away even before the lyrics do.