Dani Gagnon
If there were ever an album released in the wrong season, it was Tame Impala’s, “Lonerism.” The Perth, Australia neo-psychedelic band’s most recent album was released in October of 2012.
Yet, almost a full year later it is just hitting its prime. In fact, because 2013 has so far been a generally slow year for album releases, it claimed the position album of the summer for this college student.
Although Tame Impala’s late introduction to my iTunes library may be unfortunate for my sake, it seems simultaneously fitting as it parallels their older sound. “Lonerism,” like Tame Impala’s debut album, has consistently been compared to albums from the late 1960s and early 70s.
Tame Impala’s qualities from the past eras color the audience’s feeling towards them in such a way that it is similar to that classic and loveable band, the Beatles.
In spite of this, Kevin Parker, Tame Impala’s lead songwriter and recording director, keeps a distinct difference from the bands they are constantly compared to.
As Pitchfork writer Jason Greene stated in a review, Parker, “sounds like someone trapped John Lennon’s vocal take from ‘A Day in the Life’ in a jar and taught it to sing new song.”
Yes, there is an undeniable likeness between Parker and Lennon’s voices; it is what Parker does in the recording studio that draws the distinct gap between the Beatles and Tame Impala. Contradictory to “Lonerism’s” “Feel’s Like We Only Go Backwards” it is the intersection of technology and humanity that is explored throughout the album and creates Tame Impala’s unique identity.
Through “Why Won’t They Talk To Me” and “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been In Our Control,” Lonerism explores the intersection and differences of being alone and isolated.
“Lonerism’s” examination of these corners is what dramatically affect and shapes their sound. The electronic tweaking submerges the listener into their dream-like sound as they explore the state of mentality.
Pitchfork writer Ian Cohen compares “Lonerism” to being “along the lines of ‘I’m Only Sleeping’, embodying and advocating a wakeful and passive state of psychedelia.” This state of half wakefulness is particularly reminiscent of the college student’s state of mind during summer.
The simple rhythms and melodies that are spun into intricate circles evoke the anticipation of what will come on a summer day.
There is a nostalgia for the ‘good old days’ evoked from their music and yet simultaneously a freshness that hasn’t been explored yet in it.
The combination of the familiar and unexamined speaks well to the summers of college students as they return to familiar places and find that there is something different now about them.
Particularly during the first summer going home from school, it is a shocking experience returning to a hometown and expecting to find the familiar only to be greeted by changed and new faces.
The conflict, although jarring, makes for an exiting and unpredictable summer, and in terms of the album, an interesting and layered listening. The gaps in familiarity and expected timings of summer and where their album will go provides for a memorable summer experience.
So, to be sure, although “Lonerism’s” claim to fame came late, its timing now further enhances its sound quality and acute meaning to listeners as the perfect summer album for road-trips.
