Nerds That Geek Album Review: ‘The Slow Rush’ by Tame Impala

Written by Scott Murray

​Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush always felt like it would be relevant, but it turned out to be a work of prophecy. Releasing in February of 2020, the album lived up to its name and accurately encapsulated the feeling of moving quickly while going nowhere. Then Covid hit and the world came to a halt and simultaneously turned up the intensity of everything, all at the same time, giving this album new life and meaning.

The Slow Rush effectively communicates a feeling I can’t put into words; one I typically associate with my time growing up on the periphery of Los Angeles, but which still shows up in life periodically regardless of time or place. “Hurry up and wait” is a similar phrase, but is too jerky, too abrupt, not smooth enough to capture the feeling that I can’t quite put into words. I could struggle, and fail, and tell you it feels like being slow but surrounded by speed or floating quickly through a fog that never shows you the same visions twice. Apparently, Kevin Parker, the one-man writer, performer, producer, and mixer who is Tame Impala, found this feeling difficult to put into words too, and instead put it into music. He has done so brilliantly and gifted us an album that both speaks and listens, that knows your history and your confusions and your doubts while simultaneously asking you to tell it your story.

In general Tame Impala gets classified as “Psychadelic Rock” and I must agree that genre is broad enough to describe Kevin Parker’s work more effectively than any other, but the music itself is varied and draws from many different styles. This most recent album holds elements of disco, trance, the digital instrumentation early 2000s pop dabbled in, and still remembers the warpy sounds of full power guitar that occasionally appeared in his last album, Currents.

The songs themselves are catchy but not in a way where one verse sticks annoyingly in your head. Instead, the songs are complete packages that roll naturally and smoothly from one to the next. Except for one track, Posthumus Forgiveness, the lyrics all hold themes of, well, of that thing I can’t put into words, the titular “Slow Rush.” Borderline feels like a walk through nighttime streets, drifting but not stumbling, traffic lights and streetlights providing floating blooms of color as you drift through the nighttime, the lyrics occasionally providing visible glimpses of past stops on your journey. Breathe Deeper steps and bobs and rolls, providing you something to step in time with while building you up by making it safe to let yourself down. Lost in Yesterday perfectly captures the feeling of nostalgia for something you didn’t want, and On Track turned out to be the perfect song for a life that is both on hold and under the gun.
 
Posthumus Forgiveness, the one I mentioned earlier that doesn’t quite fit with the others, is instead a eulogy, a malediction, and a pardon all at the same time. The singer speaks to their deceased father, holding all the sands of time in their hands as they sift through memories with the benefit of time and distance. Although the lyrics don’t invoke the same sense of disconnected time and place as the rest of the album, they do give the same feeling of being outside of time while simultaneously being acted upon by it.

Musically the album plays with its own musical toys, rearranging similar-but-not-quite-identical instrumentation and calling back to themes, melodies, or structures used elsewhere in the album. Three false endings and one false start complete the feeling of being in the music; of being in a Slow Rush and trying to grasp something you cannot control.

The Slow Rush was always going to be relevant. We’ve all experienced a period of our lives where we live through our own slow rush. In an ideal world this album would have invoked memory differently for each of us depending on when and where we all are in our own lives. It’s a shame then, that Covid has put us all into a floating fog of uncertainty, making 2020 one of those periods of life where nothing seems sure. What isn’t a shame is that we have such great music to help us through these times: The Slow Rush can be an escape, a catharsis, an observation, or a reminiscence, and no matter which parts of your life are rushing, and which are sluggish, it will always be ready to step in and help you take stock of your own journey.

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