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Feb 27, 2020“The Slow Rush” is arguably Parker’s most fully realized and satisfying effort to date.
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Feb 14, 2020The album's a comeback that once again makes Tame Impala an artistic force equal to their commercial appeal.
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Mar 19, 2020His knack for alchemising an engrossing trip hasn’t deserted him yet.
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Feb 19, 2020At 58 minutes, it does run a little long—and I probably would’ve cut songs like On Track or the two-minute flatliner Glimmer. But every time I’ve started this album since it clicked with me, I’ve finished it. Isn’t that the most you can ask of any record?
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Feb 18, 2020Throughout The Slow Rush, Parker melds different elements of pop, funk, disco, and psychedelia. It is not as eclectic as early Tame Impala but deftly blends Parker’s various influences into a slowly-building groove record that hits all of its marks.
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Feb 18, 2020As The Slow Rush builds, you have to hold on tight to the idea that, despite the musical lengths Parker used to go through to camouflage his lyrics, he is actually one of our most intriguing confessional singer-songwriters.
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Feb 14, 2020This fourth LP polishes that dancier sound into his slickest dancefloor-ready music yet.
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Feb 14, 2020There’s everything from an Italian house piano to acid house 808s. But fundamentally, for all its genre-blending, The Slow Rush is stunningly pure and heartfelt pop.
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Feb 14, 2020The Slow Rush is an extraordinarily detailed opus whose influences reach into specific corners of the past six decades, from Philly soul and early prog to acid house, adult-contemporary R&B, and Late Registration.
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Feb 13, 2020This time it’s only a partial reinvention, but by the time the huge guitars and stereo panning of One More Hour fade away, there’s no doubt that Kevin Parker is a man with his own unique sense of time.
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Feb 13, 2020Dreamy and digressive, Parker’s songs meander and drift as if going nowhere before suddenly switching track. It can be hard to get to grips with, but there is purpose to such apparent waywardness. Meditative lyrics grapple with the relentless passage of time, lending emotional grit to his woozily blissful jams.
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Feb 13, 2020Beneath the familiarity, Tame’s fourth is operating in a subtly different world. Where ‘Currents’ doffed its cap heavily to R&B within its pop smarts, creating his most commercial work yet, ‘The Slow Rush’’s ingredients feel slightly more disparate.
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Feb 12, 2020The record is unique, and it's also connected to very American and British musical lineages, from Grand Master Flash to Kanye West to the Beatles. The Slow Rush is an investigation into how to survive, even when there's so much abundance around and it should otherwise be so easy.
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Q MagazineFeb 11, 2020One of the chiefs pleasure to be had from The Slow Rush is the sheer depth of sonic treats packed into each song. [Apr 2020, p.102]
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Feb 11, 2020It’s amazing how true auteurs constantly shift their attention, shift their style, but always retain a razor-sharp focus on the artistic integrity of their projects. Kevin Parker is a true auteur, an artist who has moulded pop music to match his incredible vision.
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MojoFeb 10, 2020The Slow Rush proves the rewards of taking time; Kevin Parker is an artist worthy of yours. [Mar 2020, p.90]
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UncutFeb 10, 2020He has risen to the occasion with an album full of the necessary girth and scope, which doesn't succumb to the forces of inertia. [Mar 2020, p.18]
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Feb 10, 2020A solar system held in place by its own revolutions, ‘The Slow Rush’ is testament to the patient productivity and unrelenting creativity of Kevin Parker.
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Feb 10, 2020This is a 57-minute flex of every musical muscle in Parker’s body. Crunchy guitars are largely absent, but we’re left with something far more intriguing – a pop record bearing masterful electronic strokes.
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Feb 14, 2020At the end of the day, Parker proves good songwriting can hold the basis of a band’s sound, and despite the lack of guitar here, The Slow Rush does just that. It’s not as pristine as previous entries, but it certainly holds up Tame impala’s incredible reputation.
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Mar 23, 2020It is immaculate music, loaded with little side roads and detours, and I will listen to it probably hundreds of times, but there’s that little something missing, that dagger to my chest, that shiver up my spine that I thought would hit me long before now.
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Feb 20, 2020Five years removed from Currents, The Slow Rush plays as though no time has passed at all.
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Feb 10, 2020While lacking the convention-breaching identity of Currents, Tame Impala commits to a formula that will undoubtedly guarantee heavy rotation – an album sporting plenty of standouts and very little filler.
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Classic Rock MagazineMar 5, 2020If you've ever gone clubbing on heavy-duty painkillers, expect flashbacks. [Apr 2020, p.83]
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Feb 10, 2020Focus too deeply, and it feels less like a collection of songs and more like a showplace for his sonic finery. As mood music, though, it's a sweet trip. [Feb 2020, p.83]
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Feb 21, 2020Things pick up toward the end with the slightly more upbeat run of Lost In Yesterday, Is It True and It Might Be Time. For the most part, though, Parker is a better producer than he is a songwriter.
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Feb 11, 2020It's upbeat, fashionable and sounds great in the background when you're only half paying attention. Rather than seizing his moment in the spotlight, Parker sounds like he's just enjoying the journey.
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Feb 13, 2020Parker’s long-awaited Currents follow-up, The Slow Rush, isn’t quite as interesting as its predecessors in terms of songwriting and production, and this gap makes Parker’s lyrical weaknesses more challenging to ignore.
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Mar 25, 2020Unfortunately, after years of anticipation, the reveal is an overtly tedious shell of everything Parker has ever charmed into existence. In fact, tedious may be an understatement.
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Feb 24, 2020For those that need a bit of background music The Slow Rush is a competent record, but it’s impossible to actively listen to it for a prolonged period of time without despairing. At least now that this is out, there probably won’t be another one for a few years.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 356 out of 399
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Mixed: 28 out of 399
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Negative: 15 out of 399
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Feb 14, 2020This album is an absolute masterpiece. Kevin Parker is a genius. He reimagined himself and his sound so perfectly.
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Feb 14, 2020
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Feb 14, 2020