Update: Tame Impala’s new album, The Slow Rush, is out on February 14th, 2020.
Time flies when you’re dancing to rich, psychedelic pop, which is why it’s hard to believe that it’s already been three long years since Tame Impala’s last album, Currents. The good news is that Kevin Parker insists a follow-up is on the way, and he hopes to have it out by next summer
In a new interview with Beats 1’s Matt Wilkinson, Parker says that he’ll be “very disappointed” if he isn’t supporting a new album by next summer, admitting, “I love playing Currents songs, I love playing Lonerism songs, but I think I’m ready to play some other songs live.”
Though, don’t expect to hear anything new live, as he insists, “I like that the first time people hear it is the kind of the recorded glory … like the premeditated thing that I’ve spent two years on, rather than being half drunk bashing it out on stage, hitting clanger notes.” Well, that explains why his comeback sets this past week at both Mad Cool or Pitchfork Music Festival have lacked any new surprises.
(Cover Story: Kevin Parker Goes Deep Into Currents and the Great Beyond)
Later in the conversation, he also caught Wilkinson up on his past and present collaborations, admitting he “can’t really do anything more than hope” his work with Mark Ronson surfaces, that we should at the very least get a song titled “Back Together” from his time with SZA, and that he’s been palling around in the studio with Travis Scott. Hell, he’s even open to working with Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner.
Naturally, talk lead to his “whirlwind” time recording with Kanye West for his new record, ye. Initially, Parker had stated he was on standout track “Ghost Town”, only to double back and clarify that he actually wound up on “Violent Crimes”.
Parker admits that “no one really knows” what goes on after recording with Yeezy, insisting, “Kanye’s in his space, throwing down ideas, taking ideas out, putting this with this, seeing if that works. He might not even know who worked on the song [or which part] is going to end up on the song until the last minute.”
So, yeah, Parker has kept busy. Listen to the man himself below:
