Tame Impala – Lonerism
Tame Impala - Lonerism
By Kenny McMurtrie
Album number three from the Australian quartet Tame Impala finds them in a ponderous yet heavy mode. Some of you will by now be acquainted with the Black-Sabbath-meets-Wizzard glam stomp of the track ‘Elephant’ from the trailer for the new season of E4’s Made In Chelsea – rather an odd choice for the band, but it’s all money in the bank I suppose. That’s probably the best song on the album but a number of others are not without merit.
Things kick off with the synth-backed psych of ‘Be Above It’, a song that manages to switch off just before the repetitive phrasing gets to be annoying. As an introduction it serves its purpose well though, ushering in the slightly lusher ‘Endors Toi’ which then lets the side down by ending just as it starts to get really interesting in terms of guitarwork. ‘Apocalypse Dreams’ comes on like the Bee Gees doing backing vocals for Sloan in a pleasingly fuzzy psychedelic bubble.
The following few songs amply maintain the same atmosphere and quality with ‘Feels Like We Only go Backwards’ owing the most debt to Abbey Road-era George Harrison. ‘Elephant’ then sounds a tad incongruous in this company, a bit like its namesake in the room when it lumbers in after the particularly spacey ‘Keep On Lying’ but good on them if it manages to become something like the next ‘Seven Nation Army’ (without the subsequent overkill).
‘She Just Won’t Believe’ appears for just under a minute, long enough to say the title before quitting. Pointless. Penultimate track ‘Nothing That Has Happened Before Has Been Anything We Could Control’ is though a pretty sweet and woozy song, bringing to mind images of ‘indie’ coming-of-age films such as Dazed & Confused or Almost Famous. ‘Sun’s Coming Up’ is the final track and, by the time it gets to the watery guitar work and sampled passing traffic noise of its final minute, the feeling of having spent an enjoyably trippy night outdoors and making your way home at dawn is pretty much achieved, whether intentionally or not.
