Review: Tame Impala- Currents

The 5 piece from Perth, Australia are now on their 3rd album. After the success of previous album 'Lonerism', all eyes were on the band to see whether they could replicate that success with the new album. The band are the certified poster boys for the trend towards a psych sound in Perth, and Australia as a whole, alongside bands such as Pond.

In a recent interview with NME, front man, Kevin Parker said he "wanted to make something that from the sound of it could be down at the club". This has been achieved to a certain extent as the there are a lot more repetitive beats and tracks with a faster pace to them. This change in sound is positive in my opinion and will likely add to their already fantastic live show.

The two lead singles from this album that have been enjoying lots of play time are 'Let it Happen' and 'Cause I'm a Man'. These tracks have a sound to them that's typical of this album, this is kind a mix between Tame Impala's classic 'psych' sound and the newer upbeat dance sound that the band have talked about. Out of the two I prefer 'Let it happen' because I really like the riff and how they've expertly switched the speed of the track at various points.
The flow of this album is very good and well thought out, the short skit tracks, 'Nangs', 'Gossip' and to a certain extent 'Disciples' work well to thread different sections of the album together. There are many single worthy tracks on this album that are very well produced such as 'The Less I Know the Better' and 'Yes I'm Changing'. There are however also tracks that fall short of the mark in my opinion such as 'Past Life' and 'Eventually' which I could argue have been overworked. 

You can clearly see a hip hop inspiration with the drum beats on some of the tracks on this album. They haven't strayed too far from what they know best though with a wide use of synths across the album. So overall I really like this new album and the dancier vibe, despite the shortcomings on some of the tracks.


Highs:
Let it happen
The less I know the better

Lows:
Eventually
Past life

Rating: 8.2/10