Benjamin Epstein
Staff Writer
Tame Impala is a band (a band that is actually just one guy) that needs no introduction. A legend of both the psychedelic rock and alt-pop world, Tame Impala has left a strong mark on the sound of the 21st century with albums like “Lonerism” and “Currents.”
“Deadbeat” comes after a five-year break, which saw Kevin Parker (the one guy who is Tame Impala) becoming a father. The album marks a big stylistic shift for the artist, as he embraces EDM. This change didn’t come out of nowhere, as he was already moving in that direction with his last album “The Slow Rush.”
Unfortunately, the beats are pretty basic, and the synths are rather colorless, making most of the songs sound very similar. There’s little in the way of interesting textures. It’s a rather stripped-back, no frills album, which is fine, but the simplicity makes it less engaging for me.
There are a few exceptions. “Dracula” has some really weird synths and a very funky baseline that I like. It’s a unique sound that I haven’t heard from Tame Impala.
“Afterthought” might be the most fun track on this album. The baseline is really funky, the melody is catchy, and the synths actually have fun textures. Why couldn’t the rest of the album be like this?
I also appreciate the idea behind “Ethereal Connection,” as it’s a minimal eight-minute song made of this fairly hypnotic beat. The problem is, it’s a bit too minimal for eight minutes, the beat gets boring quickly, and the repetitive vocal melody doesn’t help.
Exceptions over. Everything else just blurs together for me.
I feel like Tame Impala was wanting this album to be like Paul McCartney’s “RAM,” a simple, stripped-back album reflecting the fact that he’s a family man now. However, “RAM” has some really interesting compositions and songwriting that float to the surface with the more sparse production. The compositions on this album are pretty basic for the most part, with little in the way of style, and the lyrics are incredibly forgettable.
The most memorable line on this album for me was the one which referenced Family Guy, “You’re a cinephile, I watch Family Guy”. The rest of the lyrics are kinda cliche like “Love doesn’t cast a shadow,” or really uninteresting. For example, “Obsolete” just feels like the same statement being repeated, with him asking this person to tell him the truth a million different ways: “Tell me please because I’m losing sleep,” “Tell it to me straight, don’t tell me lies,” “Just tell it like it is to me, baby.” It’s boring.
Tame Impala’s songwriting has always been simple and direct, but the lyrics on this album are so simple and direct that they lose any dimensions they could have. Most of the songs here have one single idea that’s not elaborated. For instance, “Loser” is about how he’s a loser and really wants this woman, and that’s that.
This album is kinda about Mr. Impala’s home life, which is why the cover shows him stabbing his daughter with his nose, but little is said about this topic. There’s just a lot of vague references to it being hard for him to sustain his relationships.
Most internet discussions of this album revolve around that one Family Guy one, likely because all the other lyrics are just kinda nothing.
This album is never horrendous or insulting. None of the choices it makes are offensive. However, it never made me feel much of anything. It’s not groovy enough to work as a dance album, not melodic enough to work as a pop album, and not atmospheric enough to work as any sort of experience. I’m running out of ways to say it’s uninteresting.