Tame Impala
photo: raph_ph · cc by 2.0 ↗Tame Impala is the recording project of Perth multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker, who writes, plays, and produces every layer of the music alone in his home studio before assembling a touring band to bring it to the stage. Beginning as a hazy, guitar-driven psych-rock outfit on 2010's Innerspeaker, Parker steadily rebuilt the sound around synthesizers and drum machines, turning 2015's Currents into a widely covered blueprint for psychedelic pop's move onto the dance floor and the pop charts. He has since become one of the most sampled and covered songwriters of his generation, courted by artists from Rihanna to Kanye West, while continuing to release albums under the Tame Impala name.
Parker has named Rundgren's 1973 studio odyssey A Wizard, a True Star as a direct touchstone for Lonerism, pointing to Rundgren's phased drums and one-man-band studio wizardry as validation for building whole albums alone in a home studio.
listen forCue up the woozy, effects-drenched collage of Rundgren's 'International Feel,' then Tame Impala's 'Feels Like We Only Go Backwards' — both bury a plainly melodic song under layers of phasing, tape tricks, and one-man overdubs.
Parker has pointed to the trippy, backwards-tinged psychedelia of the Beatles' 'Blue Jay Way' as an early revelation about how far a pop song could bend without breaking, a lesson audible across Tame Impala's kaleidoscopic productions.
listen forHear the drifting, tape-warped drone of 'Blue Jay Way,' then Tame Impala's 'Apocalypse Dreams' — both wrap a simple vocal melody in swirling keyboard fog and disorienting studio effects.
Parker has called Supertramp one of his favorite bands and admitted he feels like he's 'always kind of channeling' them, pointing to their warm electric-piano tones and soaring, melancholy falsetto hooks.
listen forPlay Supertramp's Wurlitzer-driven 'The Logical Song' next to Tame Impala's 'Yes I'm Changing' — both ride a warm, bittersweet keyboard hook and a plaintive falsetto through a very similar ache.