Five years after the breakthrough album “Currents,” Aussie Kevin Parker contemplates fame and the passage of time on his psychedelic-disco-rock fourth LP, “The Slow Rush.” Referred to more famously as Tame Impala, Parker’s music project seems to bring something new to every track on this latest album. Not being intimidated by the radio-friendly, 3-minute track length, “The Slow Rush” also features songs averaging 5 minutes each. Obviously, despite a recent surge in popularity, the Tame Impala project knows how to stay true to roots while simultaneously taking musical risks. The album gives listeners stapled synthesizers and dreamy vocal falsetto as well as new groovy beats and a fresh lyrical theme.
The record’s dizzying opener, “One More Year,” centers around a reverberating choir that repeats the title on a loop while Parker addresses the concept of time and living in spite of time’s limiting factors. From there, the album wears influences on its sleeve with the Zeppelin-esque “Posthumous Forgiveness,” the Brazilian samba of “Tomorrow’s Dust,” and the glossy track “It Might Be Time,” which sounds like it’s straight from a Supertramp project. “The Slow Rush” offers thoughtful compositions as Kevin Parker cements his place as music’s new psychedelia king.
