Lonerism

Kevin Parker is the main brain behind Australia's Tame Impala, and the band's debut album, 2010's "Innerspeaker", was quite the intruiging debut album. Now comes the second album.

"Lonerism" (12 tracks; 52 min.) starts off with a nerversly drum-driven, high-energy "Be Above It", a fantastic track. It is followed by "Endors Toi", another all-out energy track. It isn't until track 3 "Apocalypse Dreams" that we start to get a real sense of where this album is going, less guitar-oriented than "Innerspeaker", even if the next track "Mind Mischief" actually finds guitars and drums very upfront. The album truly takes off with the next track "Music to Walk Home By", with synthesizers all over, a theme that would continue for most of the album. "Why Won't They Talk To Me" is in the same vein, and at this point I'm thinking that Tame Impala has become the (beautiful) bastard child of Film School-meets-The Secret Machines. Now we are into the heart of the album, with an outstanding lazy-feeling "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards", followed by an even greater "Keep on Lying", with a delicious 4 min. instrumental outro (with lots of sound-trickery overdubbed, and I mean that in the best of ways). It is one of my favorite tracks on here. It is followed by a guitar-heavy (and hard rock sounding) "Elephant", which is out of place with the rest of the album, yet somehow it works great. After that the album starts to falter a bit, we've had the best moments by then. The album should've closed with "Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control" but instead is followed by an unnessecary piano-based "Sun's Coming Up".

In all, this album is one of the biggest (pleasant) surprises for me this year, and clearly one of the year's very best albums, period. Sure to make my "best of 2012" albums list, and very high at that. I can't wait to see this band in concert! "Lonerism" is HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

*UPDATE* (March, 2013) I saw Tame Impala in concert for the first time just recently here in Ohio, and they simply blew me away. Outstanding set from start to finish. If you have a chance to see them live, do not miss them!

This is the first time I've been compelled to write a review on Amazon, because it has been such a long time since an album has got under my skin the way that "Lonerism" has.

My introduction to Tame Impala came from hearing "Elephant" on 6 Music this summer and being pulled in by the section just after the whispered "here it comes". The song is a beast of a tune - stomping glam rock followed by freak out psychedelia. So when you start playing "Lonerism" I can see why people might be disappointed if they are expecting 11 other "Elephant" type tunes - that isn't what you get here.

The album has got some beautifully written songs with Apocalypse Dreams my personal highlight. Other tracks such as Keep on Lying and Feels Like We Only Go Backwards have a wonderfully evocative mood - no doubt helped by some pretty intense production. It feels like one of those records that is most rewarding when listened to from start to finish in one setting if you have the time.

The album is very heavily layered - but this made me want to put it onto repeat listen for a couple of weeks rather than give up on it. Yes, it seems as if the Producer has been on over-time on many songs, but i've recently felt compelled to give it yet another listen over and over again - and more so than any other album in years - so they must have been doing something right.

After reading other reviews on here, I can only conclude that one man's meat is another man's poison...and "Lonerism" is a meaty feast for me (apologies to all vegetarians...)

When "Innerspeakers", Tame Impala's debut album released in 2010, brought some sunshine to the often dull universe of so-called new psychedelic acts we were left wondering, were they the second coming of another summer of love or just a bunch of Australians who knew how to play their guitars but not much else.
I, myself, was more keen to put them in the later box, unarguably "Innerspeakers" was a nice-enough album but did it brought some new to the table? Easily not.
For all its good, it lacked a heart, it wasn't soulless and the band had few aces up their sleeves, when it came to really blow, it pulled back and felt a little too stagnant and generic.

"Lonerism", however, literally blows... up.

Mind "Lonerism" isn't remotely a departure, it's again produced by Dave Fridmann (on his CV: The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev, recently MGMT's "Oracular Spectacular" and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. In fact half of Pitchfork's favorite new bands) and the band stick to their instruments for maximum effects, however we can happily report a penchant for the synthesizer is strongly present on "Lonerism", while on their debut it only served as a background part to create ambience on this current it often becomes the central instrument on more than a few tracks. As you'd imagine the use of a synthesizer means that an often 'classical' rock sound can quickly take a notch up towards modern-influences and by consequence it sounds less like yet another good album by a band mocking the 60s all together.

Tame Impala are also more Pop than before, not a surprise considering Kevin Parker has recently stated that he has at least 7 songs ready for Kylie Minogue to record them, fair enough he might not be half-serious but why not, who said you'd have to be serious to make Rock Music, the world has enough Radiohead(s) already after all.
"Lonerism" is essentially 60s because it follows those structures, credible Pop music made by credible acts... the long lasting music ever made, period. Fair enough, I am not saying Tame Impala's can rival those 60s acts but at this very moment they are the very ones making music closer to that aesthetic.

The cover in itself it's psychedelic enough, a beautiful picture taken by Australian artist Leif Podhajsky, of Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, the album and the cover share the same scope and fond aesthetics.
The opening salvo is as filtered as the album's cover, not Instagram kids but an old school Diana camera, analogue as the music itself.

"Lonerism" is quintessentially an immature and childish album, it's lyrically often silly, telling stories of kids growing in the adult world while sharing their existence with others to only understand they are loners and be it. Are those kids realistically kids? Isn't "Lonerism" a metaphor of how adults force themselves to grow-up when they really wish they could fall into childish oblivion all their lives, after all if you have to feel lonely wouldn't it better not to ever know it?
Beautifully written and often ironic, "Lonerism" is a blast to listen to. Those quirky stories perfectly matched by their ever-so melodic Pop hooks, it would be the perfect soundtrack for any teenagers spending their summer smoking pot on the beach with beautiful people, if only by the time they absorbed the lyrics they'd be left with the bad news life is a rollercoaster best not to ride.

For all it's sake and metaphoric intensity, Tame Impala have delivered a little classic. Take "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards", if you spot a better hook this year please send me an email right away.
Make no mistake Tame Impala never made catchy songs and those are anything but, if you are hoping for MGMT's look away, these are pop songs best left to be understood.
Sometimes you better be less immediate to really come through. This is the case.

As much as I liked "Innerspeakers" I wish this was their debut, surely you'd agree with me their debut is now best appreciated as a follow-up to their second album, maybe again Tame Impala wanted that way. Digest the fathers first then you can love their child.