Album Review: Tame Impala - Lonerism

Tinny drums, repeated whispers and delay effects combine Beak>-like to open first track Be Above It like a punch, but then the guitars, synths and lyrics turn it into something much warmer and hopeful, yet still defiantly announcing that Tame Impala's newbie is not just a repetition of last album Innerspeaker. Nope, this is much more epic, and perhaps even better.

Main Tamer Kevin Parker has jumped into Lonerism this time proudly swinging retro synths, a more obvious love of pop music and even an appreciation of the Daft Punk school of drums. Of course he hasn't gone 'electro', but the greater depth, more layered construction and expanded palette of influences mean that first single Elephant's blues-garage stomping formula is just a small taste of how Tame Impala's sound has exploded in different cosmic directions, allowing you to enter new musical galaxies, without the need for mind-expanding additives. Instead Parker's adapted the psych-rock formulas of the previous album to much more inclusive, accessible, hooky and downright exciting musical love-ins.

Why Won't They Talk To Me makes being unpopular sound cooler than ever, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards tilts a hat with aplomb to The Beatles, Apocalypse Dreams is more proof MGMT made mostly bad decisions post-Oracular (fyi, Dave Fridmann aces mixing duties again here), Nothing That Has Happened's spoken-word bit is forgiven due to its overall cuteness and, really, even the few filler tracks here seem to only aid in the album's general flow.

Whilst Innerspeaker might have got the critics swaying their tie-die flags in glowing unison, Lonerism deserves to make Tame Impala even more BFFs.