Music’s blend of objective and subjective qualities often sparks debate regarding an artist’s best (and worst) work. But “best” and “worst” labels, while not meritless, don’t always capture a creator’s essence. They may accurately appraise an artist’s technical proficiency or imaginative prowess, but what of their person? Their inner world?
This chronologically ordered list explores ten tracks from Australian multi-instrumentalist Tame Impala’s catalog that capture musician Kevin Parker’s creative identity and personality. Common thematic threads connect his four studio albums: introversion, introspection, and interpersonal dynamics. While each of Tame Impala‘s deeply revealing songs discloses important details about its creator’s life and outlook, the following tracks mark the cornerstones of his individuality.
10. “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?” – InnerSpeaker
This lugubrious psych-rock piece from Tame Impala’s studio debut, InnerSpeaker (2010), begs a question intrinsic to Kevin Parker’s personality: “Am I wasting my time / Living in my head?” It’s a valid question, considering introverts’ lush inner worlds and preoccupation with internal rather than external affairs.
Parker’s question exposes his vulnerable feelings regarding his temperament and life approach. Is it acceptable to dwell so often in one’s own mind? Or is there more to life beyond those (albeit comfortable and energizing) confines?
9. “Alter Ego” – InnerSpeaker
Tame Impala’s core characteristics shine in this free-flowing InnerSpeaker track about reconciling one’s current and desired selves with social expectations. Parker muses that he can win people’s affections via “words and wealth”, but he remains the ultimate human judge of his character. So, why worry about what others think?
“You won’t get far telling me / That you are / All you’re meant to be,” Parker informs his present version, reminding him that the “one from [his] dream” is “sitting right next to [him]”. Present Parker protests that he doesn’t know “what to do”, longing for the apparent confidence of his alternative self.
“Alter Ego” bares Kevin Parker’s insecurities—unbelonging and hiding behind a palatable persona while smothering his true self—and juxtaposes them with his yearning to become the best version of himself: strong, certain, knowing. Socially acceptable. However, would he genuinely want to become this other person? Perhaps Parker can bridge the gap between his prospective and existing selves by balancing self-improvement with authenticity, surpassing the fictional and potentially shallow man he thinks he wants to be.
8. “Solitude Is Bliss” – InnerSpeaker
Arguably the quintessential Tame Impala track, “Solitude Is Bliss” is Kevin Parker’s lifeblood. Everything about it, from its title and lyrics to its self-assured psych-rock swagger, screams, “I’m a loner, and that’s just how it’s gonna be.” Ironically, the introvert anthem flaunts remarkable confidence as it grooves to a strutting bass line while extolling the virtues of aloneness.
Said virtues include “Space around me where my soul can breathe / Off-guard body that my mind can leave”, denoting introverts’ comfort in their own skin when others aren’t gawking at their awkwardness or holding them up by the throats to stifling social standards. “Movement doesn’t flow / Quite like it does when I’m alone”, Parker continues.
“Solitude Is Bliss” champions introverts in a society that, despite notable advances, still side-eyes the off-kilter, misfit, artistic, and neuro-divergent. Restoring fringe-dwellers’ sense of worth remains Tame Impala’s greatest gift, and it comes wrapped with a bow and shiny ribbons here.
7. “Mind Mischief” – Lonerism
A beloved Tame Impala staple, this Lonerism (2012) track wrestles with frustration and disappointment amid a tantalizing romantic development. “Feels like my life is ready to blow / Me and my love, we’ll take it slow,” sings Parker, who dreads what this latest object of his affection will do to his life, if she even becomes a part of it. He adds that optimism “led me astray” and “she’s only messing around”, begging the woman not to toy with his mind and heart.
Unfortunately, Parker’s already hooked. Plodding, haze-shrouded instruments and falsetto pleas fall on deaf ears in this classic tale of unrequited love. “Mind Mischief” captures the heartsick romantic dwelling none-too-subtly beneath Tame Impala’s surface and reinforces the project’s moody, melancholy, achingly emotional center.
6. “Why Won’t They Talk to Me?” – Lonerism
Kevin Parker pries open his social wounds among whizzing synthesizers and stamping drums in this track about adulthood rejection. Introverts and misfits know too well the sting of failed socialization attempts: exclusion, the contempt of judging eyes, the scorn of gossip-inflamed lips. “I don’t need them, and they don’t need me,” Parker remarks of a group of people who’ve spurned him, concluding, “I guess I’ll go home / Try to be sane / Try to pretend none of it happened.”
It’s one of Tame Impala’s most candid and vulnerable pieces. Parker’s inner child bursts through querulous phrases—”Ahh, why won’t they talk to me?”—with all the teary-eyed petulance of an elementary schooler who’s just been shunned from the cool kids’ lunch table. Sulky, heart-rending, and unabashedly self-revealing, “Why Won’t They Talk to Me?” broadcasts its titular question for loners everywhere.
5. “Apocalypse Dreams” – Lonerism
If self-doubt were currency, Parker could quit his music career and rest on the Beverly Laurels of his success because questions abound in this synth-swathed, dazzlingly distorted piece. Vast and breath-taking like a hang-gliding session over some otherworldly chasm, “Apocalypse Dreams” phases deeper into Tame Impala’s ruminative psyche.
Lyrics like “Everything is changing / And there’s nothing I can do” contrast with a later statement, “Nothing ever changes…” Parker wavers between optimism and dread for his future, wondering, “Will I ever get there?” / Does it even matter?” If he does get there (as he now undoubtedly has), will his realized dreams be as rosy as he hoped?
“Apocalypse Dreams” encapsulates the Tame Impala project’s questing, introspective identity. Socrates once declared, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Parker conducts enough self-examination here to make living authentically worthwhile for everyone: himself and all his listeners.
4. “Let It Happen” – Currents
Currents (2015) shifted more than Kevin Parker’s career; it dramatically altered his sound. Gone went the squealing synths, heavily distorted drums and guitars, and thick layers of fuzz that enshrouded his previous work. Slick disco-pop polish smoothed out once-rough sonic edges, producing glossy dance numbers like this one about transitions and leaning into the tides of change.
“Let It Happen” is an existential epic and among Tame Impala’s masterpieces (a “best” declaration worth making). Through a purple haze of melancholic synths breathes this deep, wearied sigh of a song; it’s audible exhaustion. Vocal effects create literal sigh-like sounds, and the lyrics explore the futility of fighting life’s waves.
But hope ushers through toward the end, following a remarkable voyage through shadow, light, and tension. “Baby, now I’m ready / Moving on / Oh, but maybe / I was ready all along.” Parker realizes he should never have resisted the motions that brought him to this point in life. Whether he wants to or not, he’s changing. “Oh, I’m ready / For the moment / And the sound”: And it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
3. “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” – Currents
When moody self-contemplation, romantic woes, and introverted over-analysis join forces, they occasionally create masterful art like this six-minute emotional odyssey. “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” remains a Tame Impala classic not merely because of its stunning beauty but because its heart, that’s bruised, hopeful, beats to the tune of Kevin Parker’s being.
“Feel like a brand-new person,” Parker sings, while his rational side argues, “But you’ll make the same old mistakes.” Parker’s retort: “I don’t care, I’m in love.” Feelings get the best of people sometimes, and the sensitive and introverted may be especially vulnerable to their emotions from spending so much time in their heads. What happens when one has already experienced a transition (per Currents‘s opener, “Let It Happen”) and becomes that “new person” only to face the temptation of another potentially disastrous experience?
Romantic dynamics—notably, their failings—frequent Tame Impala’s albums. Parker seems to reject lovers who want him and crave those who don’t, infusing dramatic tension into pieces like “It Is Not Meant To Be”, “Keep On Lying”, “Mind Mischief”, and this one, among others. The recurring theme highlights Kevin Parker’s complexities and the rich emotions swirling about his core.
2. “Borderline” – The Slow Rush
This infectiously brooding pop piece from The Slow Rush (2020) is one big series of questions. “Will I be known and loved? / Is there one that I trust? / Starting to sober up / Has it been long enough?” Parker lays all his Big Thoughts out on the table, cycling between self-doubt and self-assurance in an argument between his emotions and intellect.
The song’s foundational lyric—”Caught between the tides of pain and rapture”—conveys Tame Impala’s entire complicated being. His music is euphorically beautiful but often at the expense of its maker’s joy. Being “emotionally wealthy”, or full of feelings, means possessing potent stores of positive and negative emotions. In “Borderline”, Kevin Parker approaches an existential crossroads beyond which lies definitive pain or gladness. For now, he dangles between decisions, tormented in a state of limbo.
“Borderline” explores what happens when pressures crack someone at the division between mind and spirit. Its soul-searching lyrics pair with its back-and-forth melody, the chorus notes dipping up and down like a seesaw between each verse. This repetitive structure, furthered by a sense of helplessness, suggests a myriad of potential borderlines: addiction, Personality Disorder, transition, etc. For listeners caught between “tides of pain and rapture”, “Borderline” brilliantly relates the feeling of being torn asunder.
1. “One More Hour” – The Slow Rush
It’s the long-awaited sigh that closes out The Slow Rush. Mature and reflective, “One More Hour” sees Kevin Parker considering his life and what he wants from it moving forward. “Whatever I’ve done / I did it for love / I did it for fun / Couldn’t get enough,” Parker shares, adding that he never did it for “her” or his “future children… until now”. Parker married his wife, Sophie, a year before releasing The Slow Rush, an album that contemplates aging, time, and where a person is currently at during their limited journey on this Earth.
Lovely and gently paced, “One More Hour” seamlessly blends Tame Impala’s introspection, introversion, and relational themes into one percipient package. Parker reasons life will be okay, “As long as I can / Spend some time alone” and “Be the man I am.” If he remains true to himself, he can balance the fullness of married life with his creative, introverted needs. Responsibilities don’t have to extinguish his spark; they may actually strengthen it.
“One More Hour” marks the culmination of a decade of questions, tentative answers, and inarguable realizations. What happens when the lonely, diffident introvert grows up? His life expands and contracts. He welcomes change, no matter how frightening. The “why’s” and “how’s” gain answers that add dimension to his world–a world that used to exist primarily in his head and has now carved a space beyond it.