Album Review: Tame Impala - Lonerism

In 2010, Tame Impala proved the (immense) hype was warranted with Innerspeaker, an ambitious debut that left those willing to chance it beaming. After rigourous touring and some attention directed to a stable of other projects, it comes time for Lonerism; a look inside the mind of a loner, an examination of the creativity they require in place of social stimulation.

Whether leader Kevin Parker is a loner himself isn't known, but that creativity is rampant here. A breathy, exhausted, inner monologue desperately urges “I gotta be above it” under an undying two-bar rhythmic gallop while occasional splashes of wonky synth wade over the top on Be Above It, before Endors Toi presents the first – but certainly not last – mid-late-era Beatles touchstone, straight from an LSD-addled John Lennon. Things straighten up when Apocalypse Dreams jauntily busts through, while Mind Mischief has a stoned groove that oughta underpin a hip hop track, stat. The guitar freak out in Keep On Lying isn't overwrought, while that song's maniacal laughing doesn't feel cheesy in the slightest. If there's a song on the forthcoming Black Sabbath LP as good as Elephant you'd have to be very surprised and even plaintive swansong Sun's Coming Up possesses an unpretentious weirdness that's curious and entertaining.

Lonerism is a masterful LP, a gloriously fascinating pop record that proves the songwriting and production skills of Parker and his associates are formidable; that a record as weird as this can chart so highly suggests there's hope for the greater public yet. This is an intensely creative but shamelessly accessible piece of music that could open the gates of psychedelia to the mainstream.