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New Book Exploring Tame Impala's 'Currents' Just Released

Mary Varvaris

With 'Tame Impala’s Currents,' journalist and author Alister Newstead examines an album that’s part of Australia’s cultural life force.

Kevin Parker, Tame Impala's Currents album cover
Kevin Parker, Tame Impala's Currents album cover(Credit: Sam Kristofski, Supplied)
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Australian music journalist Alister Newstead, whose work you can find all over Double J, has written a book about the Tame Impala album Currents, which has just been released.

The Perth outfit’s third album, Currents, was released in July 2015 by Modular Recordings.

Like the previous Tame Impala projects – 2010’s Innerspeaker and 2012’s Lonerism – Currents was written, recorded, performed, and produced by the project’s founder, Kevin Parker. But, for the first time in his career, he entirely mixed and recorded all instruments; the album doesn’t feature any other collaborators.

Following the psychedelic rock focus of the first two Tame Impala albums, Currents began a shift towards more dance-oriented music. Supported by the singles Let It Happen, ‘Cause I’m a Man, Eventually, and The Less I Know the Better, Currents became the best-charting Tame Impala album in Australia.

The album won Best Rock Album and Album of the Year at the 2015 ARIA Awards. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and the J Award for Australian Album of the Year.

Currents has since entered the cultural conscience, with artists such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Dua Lipa citing its influence.

Per the description for Newstead’s Tame Impala’s Currents, the book explores the “cultural shift” in music production and consumption upon the album landing on streaming services. Meanwhile, Parker became “one of Australian music’s most unlikely success stories and influential exports.”

Newstead explores what’s now recognised as the most popular and influential Tame Impala album—a reputation that could have very well been unexpected following the move away from psychedelic rock to soul, disco, funk, and pop.

With Tame Impala’s Currents, Newstead examines an album that’s part of Australia’s cultural lifeforce. The book digs into the context, creation, songs, and lasting impact of Currents on modern Australian music. You can secure your copy of the book here.

Reviewing Currents upon its 2015 release, The Music’s Roshan Clerke praised the growth in maturity within Parker’s songwriting.

Clerke wrote, “Tame Impala have transformed themselves into the kind of group that writes introspective anthems where the music is the focus, as well as finally finding a way for Parker to lose those John Lennon comparisons.”