Currents

Like all great psychedelic music, it perfectly evokes a deeply weird altered state, albeit that of a head wrecked by grief rather than lysergic acid diethylamide.

Ditching the psychedelic rock for an album that mines from disco, synth-pop and R&B in equal measure is a move that is sure to alienate some of the Tame Impala fan base, but the fact that Kevin was able to stretch himself into this kind of new territory is undeniably a feat in its own right. It's just icing on the cake that Currents also happens to rival Lonerism as Tame Impala's masterpiece.

Currents is a record you should be excited for, paying attention to and ready to consider the best of the year.

Nearly every proper song on Currents is a revelatory statement of Parker’s range and increasing expertise as a producer, arranger, songwriter, and vocalist while maintaining the essence of Tame Impala.

There’s a new kind of richness to frontman Kevin Parker’s lonely-astronaut experiments.

Currents is all about the wide lens. It’s not the landscape worth falling in love with, but the way Parker gives us a tour. Let it happen, and it will carry you off somewhere much further away than you realized was worth visiting.

His synth work on this record is nothing short of remarkable, and his ability as a producer is further enhanced to a level at which he has no contemporaries. Parker is a once-in-a-generation talent, and this album is conclusive evidence of it.

This is as close to pop perfection as music as seen in quite some time.

It's too early to say if Currents will be the masterpiece that Kevin Parker is remembered for, but not too early to state that this is his best LP yet, a near-perfect album in a body of already remarkably impressive works.

The real magic of Currents, though, is in how Parker so effectively (and genuinely, for the most part) manipulates the listener’s emotions without necessarily revealing any himself.

Danceable grooves and R&B beats heighten the disc's eclectic imagination.

This is Parker's strongest bunch of songs yet.

Currents isn’t quite that [masterpiece] album, but it’s an enthralling listen nonetheless.

Currents is a consummate grower, in part the musical evolution is overwhelming.

It is sparkling and wistful, and it's quite lovely.

A satisfying diversion in the flow of two styles of classic music previously at odds with one another.

Although Currents is, in many ways, a showcase of difference (from his previous guitar-driven efforts, from some previous influences, even from other recently successful forays into disco-pop such as Daft Punk's Random Access Memories), Parker also toys with repetition as a unifying theme, sonically and lyrically.

Despite the great weight of hype, Tame Impala have evolved into a satisfyingly altered form, both alien and humming.

It might not hit with the sit-up-and-listen immediacy of previous albums, but make no mistake, Currents is just as accomplished.

You can feel the giddy fun Parker was clearly having in the studio.

Accept the new sonic realities and you'll find plenty to love.

Currents is a tour de force for the songwriter and his gizmos. But it’s also decidedly hermetic, nearly airless.

Currents is melodic, pretty, but there's a pervasive sense of melancholy here; each uplifting track feels as though it's masking sorrow with shimmering synth, a teaspoon of sugar to help the medicine down.

This is a record that demands your reflection and immersion, rather than just mindlessly wigging out.

These sings might inhabit unsteady mental states, but each component could have been places with tweezers and a jeweller's loupe. [Aug 2015, p.86]

Currents may be equally exhilarating to any listener willing to adjust to Tame Impala's new paradigm. [Aug 2015, p.65]

From the crisp, hip-hop accenting on the drums to the full-bodied bass and vivd synths, Currents is an audiophile’s wet dream.

This is Parker's finest achievement yet, with the lavish soundscapes and dense atmospherics often anchored with undeniably catchy hooks. [Aug 2015, p.102]

Though still dense and detailed in a way that lives up to Parker's reputation as an obsessive studio hermit, Currents also feels more spacious and danceable in its finest moments.

For those that are willing to kiss goodbye to the guitars and join Parker on his latest detour, you’re likely to get swept away by the dreaminess of Currents. It’s just a shame that the undeniable majesty of opener Let It Happen sees the album peak at a high it can never hope to reach for the remainder of its existence.

Often on Currents it feels like you've camped out in a middle spot at a festival, halfway between a mainstage rock headliner and the dance tent.

With Parker’s voice haloed in reverb, some of it sounds great, especially eight-minute epic Let It Happen and the gorgeous ’Cause I’m A Man. But quite what his regular audience will make of this change in direction is another matter entirely.

Currents details a painful rebirth, but you’d never guess as much.

While Currents would have made a decent Kevin Parker solo album, people coming to the album and expecting to hear the Tame Impala they are used to will most likely end up quite disappointed.

It’s reductive and doesn’t help really anyone by saying the hooks just aren’t there on the level they used to be, but it’s telling that I searched the rest of Currents in vain for anything as immediate as the crashing waterfall of multitracked vocals on the chorus to “The Moment.”

While copious application of phasing offers a link to Tame Impala’s psychedelic roots, the absence of guitar wig-outs may disappoint some fans.