The Slow Rush is a smoothed-out, homogeneous version of the themes first introduced on Currents, and five years on the griddle makes this the longest wait for a Tame Impala album yet. Long-anticipated by fans and critics alike, this is an album set to split opinion. Guitar use is sparing and textural, while compositions are stretched out over longer periods than before. Songs that would have been sub-four minutes on previous releases are now double the length. This record is meant to be consumed in its entirety, but by the end it lags. Listening to this album is an ambivalent experience. You get a definitive sense of what’s being expressed, but it’s not clear why it’s there. The floaty melodies and dulled lyrics are pleasant on some songs, but tedious on others. Kevin Parker has gone from blissed-out to boredom. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work.
For a band which has come out with such creatively smart singles as Elephant, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards and The Less I Know The Better, Rush is disappointingly absent of any stand-out radio hits. The fact that Borderline was chosen as the lead single says it all. With the distant vocal take, soft bass and uncomplicated sounds, it encapsulates a lot of the musical themes on Rush, and in that sense, it’s a worthy single. When compared to other big Tame Impala hits however, it’s nowhere near as catchy. Tame Impala have always been psychedelic, progressive even, but it’s undeniable that the project is rooted in old-school pop. The John Lennon vocals, the Waterloo Sunset moods. The simple structuring of the songs and the tight, bouncy production quality. For them to release a record without at least one surefire banger is disappointing. There will be no big TV advert contracts this time round.
What’s appealing about Rush on repeated listens is the subtleties that lurk in the mix. Each song has been carefully layered. Simple musical lines intertwine and gradually create rich sounding, well built compositions. The plush electronica that was hinted in the early days is now in full bloom. In this sense, Rush is a logical progression in the Tame Impala discography. This is an album which has a distinctive feel of evolution; Ten years of journeying have led to this iteration of Parker’s sound. It’s been quite a trip so far. However, Rush seems to be the part of the trip where Kevin Parker wanders around Malibu in a big shirt, being told he’s awesome.
If you want to talk about highlights, it can be hard to pick out songs from such a round-edged project. One song that does stick out is It Might Be Time, a song which pulses with real energy through the choruses, (though that synthy siren noise might a touch high in the mix) and the dirty bassline nodding back to the rockier sound on the first couple of releases. I do like the way the lyrics make me, a 33 year-old who still goes to festivals and listens to new music, feel incredibly seen: “You ain’t as young as you used to be (it might be time to face it) You ain’t as cool as you used to be, no. You won’t recover” Damn, dude!
The fresh piano on Breathe Deeper is one of the best-placed bits of instrumentation on the record. It makes the song twinkle and shine from the first second. The beat has that clean grooviness you got on 80s pop hits, the mainstream disco vibe that gets people nodding along within seconds. Parker’s always been good at this kind of thing, and the instant vibing that spills out from this song make it a genuine peak on Rush. He gets 2 more minutes out of the song with that mirrored, backwards section which swoops in to save the day before the song gets lost in any self-indulgent twiddling. Breathe Deeper is one of the few pieces on Rush which justifies its runtime.
Tomorrow’s Dust follows, a serene piece which sweetly drops into the running order. The acoustic guitar line and gentle strings are like a stretched-out Frank Ocean section, carrying Parker’s voice lightly through the air. It never comes in to land, though. Needless arpeggios are thrown-in, almost like they’re there because That’s What Tame Impala Sounds Like. This is the case with many songs on the album - So many great ideas and pretty sections, but with no closure. You can hear this on tracks such as One More Year, Lost In Yesterday and On Track - They are all crying out for a lift. Scene-changers and riff drops are replaced with… Nothing? Verses keep flowing into other verses and it gets stodgy too often. They aren’t particularly bad tunes, but they also don’t really go anywhere. The regal, resplendent choruses of the mid-2010s appear to be gone. We are on the comedown.
This is the most insular Tame Impala record to date. One of Parker’s key narratives is loneliness, of not belonging, or being the last one to know. While the sound on any Tame Impala project is ubiquitously expansive, it’s a thin, personal mood that forms the core. This is no surprise - Parker has done the bulk of Tame Impala’s music off his own back, and is the ultimate bedroom artist. It’s inevitable that all his music will reflect this. What Rush attempts to do is to finally end that solitude, to accept the rest of the world into his arms, but it does the opposite of that. This is a tough, impenetrable record. Parker says himself that this is about time happening to him, how people are just experiencing life without the ability to control it. This is true on Rush, the music happens to you, and pathos is a six letter word. The dreamy content fails to strike that resounding chord.
Rush distances Parker further from his audience, raises more questions than it answers, and ultimately falls short of bringing a satisfying conclusion to the first decade of Tame Impala’s history. Lonerism, though far more bleak and angsty, did a much better job of connecting with the outside world. Currents wasn’t as good, but still held open the door. Rush sees Parker retreat further, eschewing lucidity and vibrant instrumentation for vagueness, for chrysalism. Tame Impala is still an important part of the musical landscape, and while rock and metal are dozing off, it’s one of the finest guitar projects around. While the direction can leave a lot to be desired, Rush is certainly something that Parker needed to do, but as a fan, it may leave you aching for the next chapter. I won’t blame any of you for sticking on Apocalypse Dreams to remember the simpler times.
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