The Slow Rush Album Review
From the psychedelic sounds of Tame Impala’s first two studio albums, Innerspeaker (2010) and Lonerism (2012), to the glossy, smooth sounds of his third LP, Currents (2015), Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has proven himself to be one of the most talented names in mainstream pop and rock music. Writing, recording, and producing almost all of the music, Parker’s talent can easily be heard when listening to Tame Impala’s music.
Tame Impala’s fourth full length effort, The Slow Rush, was an album highly anticipated by fan’s of Parker’s work, especially due to the five years without an album since Currents. In 2019, Parker released two singles, Patience and Borderline, which I enjoyed quite a bit. The album singles, Posthumous Forgiveness, Lost In Yesterday, and It Might Be Time made me optimistic for how the album would sound.
The Slow Rush was released February 14, 2020, and upon my initial few listens, I was disappointed in the album as a whole as I had high hopes for what Parker would release. Although I could clearly hear Parker’s improvements in production, I found the nature of the album, as a whole, to be underwhelming. As time went on, however, I came to enjoy the album in its own light, although some of my initial complaints remain.
Let's get into the tracklist:
One More Year - This song is one of the best tracks on the album for me. The robotic sounding backing vocals create a great atmosphere and the vocals and synths proved to be extremely catchy.
Instant Destiny - The main vocal melody on this song was not appealing for me and I found parts of it to be annoying. The bassline and arpeggiated synths however create a great sound and do a lot to save the song.
Borderline - This track was released in 2019 as a single but the album version hosts different production and inclusion of some different instruments. This song is extremely catchy, and with the updated version, synth and basslines in the song prove to be fun to listen to.
Posthumous Forgiveness - This is one of the best songs on the album. The genuine lyrics and beautiful synths make the song a standout in the Tame Impala discography. I also find the transitions between sections of the song to work well and keep the runtime of over six minutes interesting.
Breathe Deeper - This is one of the most frustrating songs on the album for me. The glitzy instrumental, piano line, and vocals get repetitive very quickly. The song is too long for the amount of ideas within it. The smaller sections at the end of the song sound great but could have been implemented earlier. There were some good ideas here, and the synths and percussion sounded great, but 6 minutes 13 seconds was far too long.
Tomorrow’s Dust - This is yet another track where the repetitive nature takes away from it's value. The arpeggiated synths laced throughout make up for a good bit of this and the implementation of the phone call towards the end of the song does a lot to create atmosphere.
On Track - This track features great vocals and drums. The optimistic lyrics are nice as well.
Lost in Yesterday - This song has a great rhythm section, although the melodies are lacking for the most part. The lyrics in this song play into some of the time related themes in this album.
Is It True - The first half of the song consists of melodies that are mostly forgettable not to mention repetitive, and has the same bassline for most of it, with most of the other instruments just playing the bassline in different octaves. The second half of the song does improve with a more interesting instrumental however with a great synth solo.
It Might Be Time - More themes of nostalgia and time are played with in this song. The song has a memorable melody with great siren-like synths playing in the choruses. It features one of the most satisfying moments on the album when the grinding synth bass comes in at the end.
Glimmer - This mostly instrumental cut serves its purpose as a segway into the last track of the song. The sample at the beginning of the song is funny and helps fill out the album with atmosphere.
One More Hour - This final cut is a very strong finish to the album. The drums are incredible with many fills that keep them interesting.
Overall Feelings:
Parker’s approach to this album was more focused on rhythm than anything else, making it incredibly groove heavy and danceable. While the drums and bass are consistently the strongest part of this album, there are points for me where they don't make up for the lack of melodic and structural ideas within certain songs. This album overall was very effective for me, and while not all of the songs are my favorite, most of them are good songs. Parker’s production is a great improvement from previous Tame Impala projects. The synths throughout the album sound great and Parker’s vocals are solid. The inclusion of samples effectively make the album feel more like a cohesive project, with lots of sections. Tame Impala’s effort was impressive on this album, and although for me it is not on the same level as their first three albums, it is still a solid project.
Rating: 7/10