Tame Impala first came my way with their 2011 single, "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards," a swirly ballad full of synthesizers that could have come straight off John Lennon's Mind Games in 1973. It was at once a big wet kiss to psychedelia and at the same time a brilliant re-imagination of the genre. The album was Lonerism. Critics swooned. Early '70's psychedelia was back from the dead.
Cut to 2015 and pivot: TI frontman Kevin Parker surprises us again with a fresh take on another old-school sound. The synth-y wash is still present, as is the moody obsessiveness. But this time it's R&B that gets a re-boot. Not the gritty, Stax soul that Elvis Costello repurposed so memorably on Get Happy. What Parker has in his mind is R&B as the lovechild of the Chi-lites and the Electric Light Orchestra. Todd Rundgren tried this kind of mash-up years ago but nobody paid much attention. But when you hear "Yes, I'm Changing," you will take some serious notice:
Then there's the finger-popping, blue-eyed soul of "The Less I Know the Better." Operator, get me Hall & Oates:
But the piece de resistance here is, "Cause I"m A Man," with Parker channeling Michael Jackson. Hoo-rah.
This post-millennial time warp can be so confusing, but so much fun.
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