Deconstructing Tame Impala: Kevin Parker

Tame Impala is a project led by multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. The band everyone sees performing live is a touring act consisting of Kevin and some other members (who are actually member of another bandPond). Kevin started the project in Perth, Australia, and after releasing some singes and Eps. After releasing his debut self-titled EP Kevin started to tour and opened for bands like The Black Keys, Yeasayer and MGMT. This gave him some well-deserved recognition as a result of which the appeared on Triple J’s Hottest 100, “Half Full Glass of Wine” listed 75 on the chart. he released his full-length studio albumInnerspeaker,followed byLonerism, and his latest effortCurrents, which won both Best Rock Album and Album of the Year.

Kevin’s music style is heavy influenced by the psychedelic rock of 60s and 70s, this is shown in his work through the use of different production style like delay, phasing, reverb and fuzz. Kevin decision to write and record music all by his own seems a little unconventional but you can’t argue with it when you hear the end result, he knows well what he wants to do and how to get the sound that he desires. His choice is that of a perfectionist and he want everything to sound the way he wants it. The members of the touring act hear the songs only after they have been recorded and they have to learn the song to perform it live. Their music has been described as somewhat similar to shoegaze; it certainly uses some of the same techniques of production but the end result is something very different.

Tame Impala records mostly deals with the theme of Isolation, Introspection, and Hopeless Romantic Feelings; a perfectionist lost in his own ocean of cosmic despair while writing music. Kevin’s biggest influence was his father, who taught him how to play guitar and introduced him to the bands like The Beatles, Beach Boys and other artist. But his father told him to stay out of music business, giving the reason that once it became a job the magic will fade away. Listening to his father his went to University to study Engineering but later switched to Astronomy. He then started his Project (Tame Impala) and one day, on the day of his exam, after receiving a record deal from Modular, he went home and started recoding more music.