Tame Impala - The Slow Rush Review

Tame Impala - The Slow Rush Review

Australian genius Kevin Parker returns with his first album in nearly five years, The Slow Rush

In 2018, Tame Impala released two singles, Patience and Borderline, with no announcement of an album in sight. Fast forward to the 14th of February, 2020, and after a long wait, The Slow Rush has been released. Full of progressive rock riffs and drums reminiscent of 2012 album Lonerism, especially on songs like first single It Might Be Time, Lost In Yesterday and On Track.

However, the album also has it's pop moments, not too dissimilar from third record Currents. This is most obvious on Breathe Deeper, which is sure to be a massive hit, similar to The Less I Know The Better from Currents. This is also Kevin Parker's most personal record to date, with one of the songs, entitled Posthumous Forgiveness, in which he talks about his strained relationship with his late father. The track is split into two halves, in the first half, Parker talks about his particular dislike for the way his Dad was when he was still alive, as shown in the lyric 'But you decided to take all your sorrys to the grave'. And then the second half is about Kevin reminiscing about the time he did spend with this father, while also wishing they could've spent more time together. Also, as the song transitions from one half to the next, the style also changes. For example, the first half is bound to remind fans of first record Innerspeaker with its fuzzy bass riff, and then as the track progresses into the second part, it becomes more reminiscent of Currents with an increase in synths.

That is a running concept throughout the album, the idea of time, as is most evident in album opener One More Year and closer One More Hour. This concept is shown in lyrics like 'Do you remember we were standing here a year ago?' and 'I could wait one more hour'. The record also plays on the theme of nostalgia and letting things go, as is shown in the song Lost In Yesterday with lyrics like 'Cause you've been digging it up like Groundhog Day' and 'You're gonna have to let it go someday'.

The Slow Rush also features a reworked version of 2018 single Borderline, and it now features more drums reminiscent of tracks like Feels Like We Only Go Backwards and Elephant from Lonerism, while also having a heavier synth groove to it, like it could've been on 2015 album Currents.

Overall, Kevin Parker has no doubt pulled it out of the bag with this fourth record, definitely in terms of the production, this album feels very nostalgic, helped by the prominent call-backs to previous albums, while also being pushed in a new direction towards the future, which looks very promising for the Australian psych-rock genius.