Tame Impala’s “The Slow Rush” offers inventive lyricism, style but ultimately underwhelms

The Slow Rush
Source: https://official.tameimpala.com/

“The Slow Rush” Source: https://official.tameimpala.com/

Maël Lorach, Staff Reporter

“The Slow Rush” is Tame Impala’s fourth full-length LP, and is an interesting follow-up to his previous album, “Currents.” But interesting does not necessarily mean good in this case. 

Those that have been following Tame Impala’s work will know what to expect: lots of major and minor seventh chords, psychedelic echo effects, synthesizers firing off everywhere, millennial John Lennon’s voice, and excellently played and recorded boom-bap percussion.

Tame Impala is the project of one-man army Kevin Parker, who lyricizes, arranges, and produces all of his own repertoire.

In Kevin Parker’s previous work, these characteristics complemented his compositions perfectly. 

However, throughout this album’s runtime, it often feels like the elements I mentioned before are being used as a surrogate for the average-at-best compositions. It’s as if you cooked a dish that tasted average, and then threw a bunch of spices on top to conceal the general blandness of the dish.

Credit must be given where it is due though, and there are three songs on this album that stand out.

“Instant Destiny” perfectly portrays Kevin Parker’s lyricism. While he sings “I’m about to do something crazy,” a majestic chord progression exudes adrenaline. It feels like skydiving off a plane.

The impossibly groovy “Borderline” is masterfully crafted, featuring chords and melodies that complement each other perfectly. While this seems to contrast the self-doubt and anxiety expressed in the song’s lyrics, Kevin Parker somehow manages to marry them with the instrumental.

“Breathe Deeper” features an original melody and well-chosen simplicity in its chord structures. This is the kind of song which goes perfectly with repetition.

In classic Tame Impala style, traditional song structure is often substituted for repetition. Unfortunately, in most of the songs here, the instrumental fails to achieve the compositional and sonic originality to maintain my attention for the entirety of the song.

As for the rest of the songs on this album, I, unfortunately, felt inclined to skip them, though, the album might be worth a listen for you to judge yourself.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5