Tame Impala – Innerspeaker

by Matthew James on July 27th, 2010

Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
June 8th, 2010
Modular
Score: 6.5

The last time an Australian band came on the scene with great buzz behind them, they turned out to be The Vines. Tame Impala are the newest great rock hopefuls from down under to try and make a splash in the bigger markets of America and Britain and do show great potential on their debut album Innerspeaker — even if the end result is not one of complete accomplishment. Unlike the raucous nature of The Vines or Wolfmother, Tame Impala play transcendent psychedelic rock. At times, it can be completely captivating. The meditative opener ‘It Is Not Meant To Be’ is a wonderful flowing, headspace-filling epic journey and even better is ‘Solitude Is Bliss’ which takes those previously mentioned ingredients and adds to that a ridiculously catchy hook and chorus. “You will never come close to how I feel”, sings Kevin Parker in his sometimes a-little-close-for-comfort Lennon voice but this is no great crime. Other influences from the late 60s and early 70s come along with some Hendrix-style guitar work and some thumping Zeppelin bass grooves. An opening slot with MGMT was a great way for these youngsters to introduce themselves to America and fans of MGMT will find much here to enjoy. Tame Impala lack the tight songwriting skills of VanWyngarden and Goldwasser but can push them at times in terms of far out trippy experimentation. So Innerspeaker is by no means a classic debut but it is certainly an interesting one. The album can get a little samey and some songs venture off into jam territory when a fade out would probably have been a better idea. But that said, there are more than enough moments of exciting rock music here to keep an interest in Tame Impala who may well turn out to be the real deal further down the line.

Matthew James

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