Lose Yourself In A Swirl Of Sound With Tame Impala
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 13, 2012 5:20PM
Tame Impala has been around for years, even if the States have only recently become acquainted with them. The band is focused around kevin Parker's distinctive, if somewhat lava lamp tinged, vision. Under his direction the band crafts beautifully loud, mesmerizingly melodic anthems that connect space with desert in a psychedelic swirl of sound. We fell in love with their debut so their sophomore effort, Lonerism, was met with eager anticipation by these ears.
We admit that Lonersim didn't slay us upon first listen. It seemed more meandering than its predecessor. We blasted it through big old fashioned stereo speakers and the sound that filled the room simply didn't feel big enough. Then we listen to it on headphones. And we understood just why Parker went back to mix the album multiple times with producer Dave Fridmann. This is an album meant for headphones. The mix is superb an the songs gently unfurl to reveal their delicate cores. And then when we threw it back on the big speakers the sound filled the room and we realized that the album needed to be approached in a particular manner. Have yu ever gone to see a show featuring a band whose recordings you never really liked, but were so knocked by the live show those same albums sounded great afterward? It's kind of a level set, right? And that's what Tame Impala accomplishes here. They're still throwing out the swirling anthems, but there's a new level of complexity that once it's experienced will color your perception of the album forever after.
The group stops by Metro tonight to tour behind the new disc. We've seen Tame Impala play a number of times and our only critique of their live show is that it's never loud enough. We're hoping that's not the case at tonight's show. Opening the evening is The Amazing, a band out of Sweden with a likeminded philosophy with tame Impala music-wise. Instead of volume, though, The Amazing veers toward the softer side of psych, crafting beautiful lullabies to awaken your mind. The show is sold out but if you can get your hands on some tickets we think it'll be quite the ride.