Released: 2010

Genres: Psychedelic Rock, Neo-Psychedelia

The Musiquarium’s Innerspeaker Review Score: 5/5

When I was introduced to Tame Impala, I thought I was listening to some long lost Beatles record that had been in a vault for decades; Kevin Parker sounded remarkably like John Lennon to me and the music had that same psychedelic, acid-soaked feeling that The Beatles and other psychedelic bands of that era (The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, etc.) had provided. This was everything I was looking for at that point of time, but was not expecting to have found it made in 2010.

Despite revisiting the past, Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker is anything but regressive, as Innerspeaker sounds both vintage and new, whereas previous rock-revivalist bands, like Jet, Wolfmother or Airbourne (all also Australian and all awful) sounded contrived, disingenuous and two-dimensional by comparison. Everything about Tame Impala felt authentic though, with Parker’s production abilities and colourful songwriting providing candy for the ears — he is definitely one of the most exciting producer/ musicians around.

It Isn’t Meant to Be recounts a woman who leaves Kevin, because she doesn’t like his nonchalant lifestyle of making music, walking barefoot in the sand and smoking weed, but he’d rather be alone than to give up his way of life; Solitude Is Bliss is similarly about how Kevin is at his happiest when he’s alone, making loneliness sound like a hell of a good time. Desire Be Desire Go is an updated version of a song from Tame Impala’s self-titled 2008 EP, and is also one of the band’s heavier songs.

Alter Ego feels like a trip, with walls of synthesizers and introspective lyrics. Lucidity is an upbeat rocker, dripping of sunshine. The psychedelic soundscapes of Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind? keep the listener in a hypnotic trance. Expectation includes a faux outro, with the music fading back in soon after. Runways, Houses, City, Clouds is otherworldly and a fantastic penultimate song, before being followed by the carefree and floaty I Don’t Really Mind, which closes the album blissfully.

Innerspeaker is fuzzy, sunny, acid-soaked, neo-psychedelia mixed by the one and only psychedelic producer-extraordinaire Dave Fridmann (producer for The Flaming Lips and MGMT’s debut) and it will make you feel like you are simultaneously living in 1967 and 2010, on top of the fluffiest of clouds; Kevin Parker has painted an entire world within the music of Tame Impala. Innerspeaker is one of the greatest rock debuts of the millennium and a launchpad for one of today’s brightest musical visionaries. Fuck Wolfmother, fuck Jet and fuck Aibourne — Tame Impala is the real deal.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Tame Impala on Discogs.

Back to the 2010 Album Guide or the Tame Impala Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard