Tame Impala

InnerSpeaker (Modular)

By Erin Lyndal Martin
Published: July 5th, 2010 | 1:00pm

Tame Impala is a Perth, Australia, quartet formed from frontman Kevin Parker’s original band, the Dee Dee Dums. On InnerSpeaker, Tame Impala's debut full-length, the band comes rushing out of the gate with a surprisingly fresh collection of retro-influenced songs and presenting a strong showing of guitar-led, psychedelic-inflected tracks. While the sounds of many bands are invoked (the Beatles, the Stone Roses, Wolfmother, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club), Tame Impala somehow manages to turn all those referents into an innovative tour de force.

Guitars rule InnerSpeaker and fortunately, the band knows how to wring every sound out of the instrument, whether it's the surf-rock of "Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?" or the fuzz of "Lucidity." "Solitude is Bliss" kicks off with psychedelic looping that smoothly gives way to a melody evocative of ‘60s French pop.

Especially with the somewhat retro vibe of the album, vocalist Kevin Parker sounds uncannily like John Lennon. Parker, however, has more noise to contend with, and he navigates it well, using his pipes for both melody and counter-melody as the guitars and synths go crazy around him. The lyrics are usually undecipherable, making it sometimes hard to latch onto hooks. That hurts the record, as well as the fact that sometimes the sonic layering simply becomes too busy, as is the case with the instrumental "Jeremy's Storm."

InnerSpeaker presents every shade of color, though all of it uses a limited palette of retro and psychedelic influences. But the colors sure are pretty.

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