The Slow Rush, the fourth studio album from Tame Impala, finds the Australian artist further exploring the electronic and dance styles from 2015’s Currents. In the decade since his debut album, Kevin Parker has steadily and constantly evolved his psychedelic style, with the guitar-based psych-rock of InnerSpeaker long gone in favor of slow-burning dance music.
While in many ways The Slow Rush is a continuation of the style of Currents, it is also a branch into a more refined take on the disco-pop genre. This album is more relaxed than its predecessor, with fewer sonic peaks and valleys and more of an even-keeled vibe. It also strays from electronica a bit more with the use of more analog instruments — a nod back to Parker’s original sound – such as the fingerpicked acoustic guitar on “Tomorrow’s Dust” and the bouncing bass guitar of “Lost In Yesterday.”
One of the overarching themes of The Slow Rush is time – the lack of it, the struggle against it, and its role in relationships and fate in general. Opener “One More Year” begins with a tremulous robotic chanting over a dance beat. Parker sings of getting stuck in a rut. “Now I worry our horizon’s been nothing new,” Parker sings, his shimmering voice sounding as if singing through a waterfall. “’Cause what we did one day on a whim has slowly become all we do.”
“Borderline” is one of the catchiest Tame Impala tracks to date, with its upbeat disco groove and retro keyboard licks that recall Madonna and George Michael hits. “Starting to sober up; has it been long enough?” Parker sings, his otherworldly falsetto flowing over an irresistibly funky bassline. “Will I be so in love? Getting closer, close enough.”
One of the most introspective and heartfelt songs is “Posthumous Forgiveness,” Parker’s ode to his late father. In the song, Parker attempts to reconcile the relationship emotionally after it was too late to do so in person. The song begins with Parker blaming his father for the estrangement. “While you still had time, you had a chance but you decided to take all your sorrys to the grave,” Parker sings over a heavy bassline and synthesized harp. Later in the song, as Parker has a change of heart singing of the moments he wishes they could share, the music also shifts. “Wanna tell you about my life, wanna play you all my songs, hear your voice sing-along,” Parker sings, the bass dropping out, replaced by bright, reverb-drenched synths.
In the standout track “It Might Be Time,” loud/soft dynamics and the dramatic bass drops make for a lively earwig of a song. “It might be time to face it, you ain’t as cool as you used to be,” Parker sings over thumping bass and a pulsing synth line that snakes around the track.
The Slow Rush ends with its best song, the bombastic “One More Hour.” The song touches on the themes of the passage of time and the growing of relationships, with Parker singing of the growing depth of his new marriage. “All your voices said you wouldn’t last a minute, babe. One more hour and you know your life is one to share,” he sings in his reverb-laden voice. It is the heaviest song on the album, incorporating the distorted rock guitars of early Tame Impala music with the repetitive electronica of current styles.
Throughout The Slow Rush, Parker melds different elements of pop, funk, disco, and psychedelia. It is not as eclectic as early Tame Impala but deftly blends Parker’s various influences into a slowly-building groove record that hits all of its marks.
