The Saturday Sound — Week 2
Tame Impala — Currents
By Gavin Dransfield
Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker falls within a class of musicians that I’ve always been captivated by: those who write, compose, record, and produce full-bodied and fully-realized works of music completely solo, bringing together a whole “band” only ever to perform live. When one man is capable of independently creating something that then requires dependence on others to bring it to life onstage, the result is an artistic pursuit that walks the tightrope between something broad and inclusive and something intimately personal. And these same descriptors are exactly what Currents, the third full-length release of Parker’s music project Tame Impala, draws its power from. With a sound that is all at once easily approachable and notably out-of-the-ordinary, Currents exhibits an atmosphere colorful enough to get you dancing, yet poignant enough to make you cry.
There are a lot of emotions that Parker is confronting here, evident in his acute and honest writing. The refrain of the opening track, “Let It Happen,” seems to increase in urgency as he laments the futility of keeping oneself together in the midst of external pressures. “The Moment” takes a look at the fleeting nature of ordinary life and the desperate struggle to live in the present, aloof from the future. And then there’s “Yes I’m Changing,” a euphorically smooth ballad dripping with a vibrant and eclectic melancholy. This is the emotional peak of the album (as well as one of my personal favorite songs), with lyrics examining the human need to change, the struggle of escaping self-consciousness to pursue a fuller existence:
“And I can’t always hide away / Curse indulgence and despise the fame / There’s a world out there and it’s calling my name / And it’s calling yours, girl it’s calling yours too.”
These are not surface-level sentiments, nor are they deeply rooted emotions. Currents is a walk down the limbo in between, a portrait of the human experiences that are constantly in motion, but go unnoticed until a precious moment of clarity. It’s a reality check.
The album is just as impressive instrumentally as it is lyrically. The swells and stabs of juicy synthesizers, reverberating drums, and soulful guitars form a pristine backdrop for Parker’s echoing, dreamlike vocals. There are tracks like “Nangs” and “Gossip,” two brief, yet potent interludes of modulated synth ecstasy. “The Less I Know The Better” features a groovy disco hook that would be at home on any Daft Punk record. And “Past Life,” with its arpeggiated motif and slow, trance-like rhythms, sounds like it could’ve been pulled straight from a Beach House record.
At the end of the day, perhaps the best word to describe Currents, in all respects, is “powerful.” It features writing that explores universal aspects of humanity, and instrumentation that will be familiar to any fan of 80’s synth pop, but the nuances in between make it a seamlessly diverse and fresh work of art. The best part is that anyone can listen to it and take away something different. But it’s likely that by the end of the album, they will be different themselves. And I think that’s exactly what Kevin Parker intends.
Stream the album:
