Sometimes a musician embodies a particular aesthetic too convincingly, making it difficult for a listener (i.e. me) to imagine him or her moving in a different direction. As Pitchfork's Ian Cohen notes, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker broke new ground with his third studio album Currents (2015):
"After two Tame Impala albums that centered on Kevin Parker's withdrawal from society, he has entered the stream of life on Currents. And he's lonelier than ever. The bemused, occasionally melancholy isolation that defined and has metastasized into heartbreak, bitterness, regret—feelings that can actually kill you if left untended. This is a breakup record on a number of levels—the most obvious one being the dissolution of a romantic relationship, but also a split with the guitar as a primary instrument of expression and even the end of the notion that Tame Impala is anything besides Kevin Parker and a touring band of hired guns."
As Parker revealed to NME, Lonerism was literally meant to evoke his state of alienation from society: "I just want to expose myself – I've become addicted to telling people how socially inept I am". The album cover visually depicts this social exclusion, with its close-up of the black steel bars of a gate that separates the observer from (what seems to be) a vibrant college campus, with co-eds basking in each other's company on the grass.
The joy of listening to Tame Impala, of course, lies in the melodious psychedelic rock sonic tapestries that fuel the trippy mental voyages that take place in tracks like "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" and "Elephant". With tracks with revealing titles like "Solitude is Bliss", its very easy to pidgeonhole Parker's lyrical persona as a modern, casual drug-using loner/monk/hermit/sanyasi who crafts immaculate melodies to revel in his splendid isolation (or as a coping mechanism?).
While "Let It Happen" walks along this same line of evoking an inner psychical turmoil, I was quite taken aback by Currents' "The Less I Know the Better" and "Cause I'm a Man". Parker's ear for a killer melody is still on display, but he's definitely moved into a pop aesthetic, with relatively direct and confessional lyrics about 'women troubles' and relationship woes. (This was a surprise for me, but its not as suprising as the hypothetical possibility of pop starlets like Miley, Madonna or Britney deciding to start making Enya-esque music). This change in direction is something that critics like Ian Cohen have noted:
"Parker is writing pop songs here, and doing them justice. During the lead-up to Lonerism, he claimed he wrote an entire album of songs for Kylie Minogue and had to stress he wasn't joking. Perhaps appearing on one of 2015's biggest pop records inspired him. Either way, the external or internal pressure to keep his pop impulses at bay are gone."
This new direction made me look at Lonerism's "Mind Mischief" in a new light; I had previously been too focused on the track's kaleidoscopic instrumentals and the title's allusion to a particular mental state to really consider the song's lyrics (despite the telling narrative that unfolds in the accompanying music video). The lyrics are about Parker's love interest causing 'mischief' with his mind, by virtue of his inability to read the signs of their relationship accurately, thus failing to take it to the 'next level':
"Feels like my life is ready to blow,Me and my love we'll take it slow.I hope she knows that I'll love her long,I just don't know where the hell I belong.How optimism led me astray,Two hundred things I took the wrong way.But I saw her love gauge running low,I tried to fill but it overflowed.She remembers my nameCould be blown way out...It's all going to changeShe remembers my name.But she was only messing around,Please, no more playing with my heart.Ooh, go with mr. right just for once!Oooh, no more mischief with my mind.Then it all just came outGuess I'll hold it in next time...No more getting it wrong,I'll be frozen here on.If forever we'll see,but no more guessing for me.
Oh, I was just so sure of everythingOoh, that's what you get for dreaming aloudOh, the day that words are clearer to me."
The lyrics 'I'll be frozen here on/ If forever we'll see' suggest that Parker's lyrical persona has no intentions to give up on love completely - the beautifully euphoric sonic landscapes that accompany his isolated mental trips aren't enough to substitute for the real thing. Currents certainly seems to pick up on where this track left out; "The Less I Know the Better" and "Cause I'm a Man" describe the anguishes, jealousies, personal blunders and disapointments that are all part and parcel of the grand quest for romantic love. What kind of music will Tame Impala make if Parker's lyrical persona eventually makes that hard-won love connection? I've never considered myself a romantic, but I'm definitely waiting to see (and hear) where this is going.
