Tame Impala is back with his first new album in five years. So what is it like?

Tame Impala
Deadbeat ★★★½

In the lead-up to Deadbeat, it was wildly uncertain what Kevin Parker was going for – the differences between the lead singles were peculiarly disparate.

Deadbeat, Tame Impala’s fifth album, may go down as one of his most important.

The first, End of Summer, was a seven-minute techno powerhouse, devoid of any of the sort of effects-heavy guitar licks that helped cement Tame Impala as a household name in the early 2010s, and ones that still reverberate as highly influential within the psychedelic-pop movement to this day.

The second, Loser, retained some of Parker’s earlier work, mostly though, his signature vocal production techniques that portrayed him as an anxious figure.

Dracula was somewhere in between, a hook-laden, 1970s disco-inspired banger with Parker likening himself to Pablo Escobar – and, you guessed it, a vampire – that sounded like it was picked up off the cutting-room floor from his production work on Dua Lipa’s 2024 record, Radical Optimism.

But what is clear on Deadbeat – and has been for some time – is that Parker’s ability to create a sonically unique record is unquestionable. He recently told this masthead that despite holding sessions at the famed Yallingup Wave House with his touring band mates and musician friends in the album’s preliminary stages, he realised, once again, he would need to be the Renaissance man.

His freedom of musical expression and clear affinity with techno and acid house is more prevalent than ever on Deadbeat, culminating in some of Tame Impala’s most experimental, yet challenging, tracks yet.

Kevin Parker is once again doing it all himself on Deadbeat.

Take the pulsing Not My World, which begins as a sweet, sun-drenched disposition before it unexpectedly transports you to the shadowy depths of a grungy Berlin-coded rave, or Ethereal Connection, an almost eight-minute long epic that follows the same structural formula almost verbatim, but is topped with detuned synthesisers and quick percussion passages during the midway point that are fundamental elements of the two genres.

But Parker also hasn’t forgotten about his foray into R&B on 2015’s highly-acclaimed Currents. The track Afterthought, where he croons about a lover tossing him to the side over a groovy synth-bass beat that bears a striking resemblance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller may be the next commercially viable hit off Deadbeat.

We hear Parker’s insecurities manifest themselves again on No Reply, where he quips “you’re a cinephile, I watch Family Guy”. Parker’s lyrical output has never been his strong suit, but the increasing colour with which he has been engaging since his early days speaks to his contentment with himself, even if the self-deprecation throughout the record is very apparent.

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Even so, Parker’s references to temptation are intriguing, but it’s unclear what exactly his proclivities to it are. There are themes of isolation, unassertiveness and introversion all over Deadbeat, but none really stands out as inherently problematic.

As Parker continues to delve deeper into electronic music, it’s conceivable the psych-rock tragics will once again have their pitchforks out ready to flay him for all but abandoning the guitar. But for those interested in his artistic development, Deadbeat serves as a record that may go down as one of Parker’s most important.

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