Why is Tame Impala so sad?

I’ve had a long history with the music of Tame Impala. I’ve had great trips and heaving gigs, decent merch and online experiences. The music is terribly memorable.

Well, in theory anyway.

I’ve been seeing Tame Impala’s face on the tube escalator as he’s trying to flog tickets to some gig in East London, but his demeanour seems so down in the dumps. I have a theory.

But the blog here is to be delivered with the best of intentions as I believe a happy Tame Impala would deliver far more interesting music than his current output suggests.

So, Tame Impala relies solely on Kevin Parker for inspiration. If you removed Kevin Parker, there would be no band, and the band itself serves as his live offering. So immediately we have strange power dynamics where Kevin is exalted to the level of employment provider to a network of skilled musicians who rely on him for gainful employment and career opportunities.

Probably this leads to scenarios where nobody is authentically genuine to Kevin, and he’s left knowing that everyone he interfaces with him is acting with some form of conversational filtration device fitted to their vocal chords because everyone wants something from him.

This kind of melancholic attitude can be evidenced in the song titles and lyrics of a few of his songs, that tend to take rather negative and passive approaches to dealing with issues. ‘Let It Happen’ ‘The Less I Know The Better’ etc etc.

Probably to the point that he’s kind of ‘given up’ and has just submitted to the whims of the music industrial complex, taking part in all of the trendy goings on without having any form of authentic voice at the end of it. He’s the guy that programs expensive retro synthesisers, does some kind of catchy vocal melody in a detached and wispy vocal and stands around staring at sunsets.

I don’t mean this as a criticism, even if it is one, but more like if I had all of this resource available to me then I wouldn’t be so upset!

Terrific beach house location in Australia with your own personal recording studio? I’d have some of that!

But housing aspirations aside, maybe this blog is some kind of farewell to Tame Impala’s music. It was good for me, in places, and bad in others. Every experience adds up to some form of learning, and I look back to Tame’s music with rose tinted glasses. We shared some incredible times together.

I hope Kevin Parker feels better one day, and in order to do that and form a legitimate band that isn’t so insular, he would need to sacrifice a degree of control. Difficult, when you’re at the top of the world. But also maybe it’s time to retire the Tame Impala moniker and be a bit more bold.