Deconstructing Tame Impala: Lonerism

Lonerism is Tame Impala’s second full length LP and not unlike their debut LP it a pure treat to your ears. It surpassed all the expectation set by his debut Innerspeaker. Kevin plays a little more with the sound of 60s and 70s psychedelic rock and mends it a little more to make something greater than just a pastiche of hi previous work. Kevin understands with the intricacies of psychedelic rock and he tries to amalgamate it with the sugary melodies of pop in this record. The album is beautiful, smart, detailed and weird at time, the result is enchanting, he creates a whole new sound in the Neo-Psychedelia genre.

“Neo-Psychedelia is a genre that saw a rise to prominence in the '90s, but had been in existence for some years. Early acts (such as The Soft Boys or The Church) were very Rock-based, featuring clean guitars and some additional instrumentation and effects (i.e. reverb, distortion).”

This is more complex than Kevin’s previous efforts, consequently making it that much more indulging and enjoyable. Pitchfork gave it a 9/10, which pretty impressive in itself, fans are always juggling between Lonerism and Currents to decide which is better. Critics/Fans have rated Lonerism to be the magnum opus of Tame Impala on Rateyourmusic.

Kevin is not an electronic producer; he just has penchant of thinking like one. Kevin’s melodies are like candies, you just can’t have one and be satisfied. The track ‘Endors Toi’ makes your eyes sleepy and intoxicates you with its sweet guitar riffs, it seems incredible to me how all of this is produced by just one person.

The album art you see has been taken by Kevin himself and it reflect the isolation and distance from society. It is an album from a perspective of a person who doesn’t feel part of the rest of the world. In the song ‘Why won’t they talk to me?’ Kevin confronts his anxious of being isolated from the world and how he has to put efforts to maintain a pretence to maintain his sanity.

‘Feels like we only go backward’ is one the popular song of this album, he creates these swirling symphonies of sounds that truly makes you feel like you are in a trance; with the emotionally heavy lyrics, he makes sure to keep us awake, while we are constantly being drowned in the smoky ocean of purple haze.

Suggested tracks:

Endors toi

Music to Walk Home By

Why Won't They Talk to Me?

Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

Keep on Lying

Elephant