Tame Impala - Deadbeat

“I’m sliding, powerless as I descend
Back into my old ways again”.

Kevin Parker’s five year-long break is finally over - his fifth album under the Tame Impala moniker, “Deadbeat”, released October 17th via Columbia Records, marks his return to the musical zeitgeist. So, is it the spectacular comeback fans have been hoping for?

If there’s one thing that is usually safe to expect from a Tame Impala record, it’s some memorable musical passages. This project does deliver on that, with some particularly catchy moments including the main motif of the opener, “My Old Ways”, or the melodies in the third single, “Dracula”. There are plenty of more subtly great moments instrumentally, too, on tracks throughout the project, such as “Loser” or “Not My World”.

There are also a few songs on the project where, while it isn’t the main focus of his music, Parker delivers some solid writing - more than any on the aforementioned “Dracula”, which, while not overly complex, has some fun, memorable moments lyrically. It is probably the best track on the album overall. However, on other songs, the lyrics feel overly repetitive and turn into a drone. The insistence on repetition works for some parts of the record, creating a compelling entrancing effect; but on others, it just ends up being tiring and depletes listener interest. 

That applies to a lot of the instrumentation, too - while, as mentioned before, there are some great moments, a lot of them are dragged down by being repeated time and time again, lessening their impact because of the fact Parker doesn’t really expand upon or diversify a lot of them. The longest tracks on the project in particular suffer from this, like “Ethereal Connection” or “End of Summer” - unlike previous longer Tame Impala songs, these don’t really do much with their extensive runtimes to justify them. It’s the same way with the sparse, foggy production and the largely hazy, distant vocals - as the album goes on, their charm starts to fade, and they become more of a hindrance to the project’s impact, making it feel messy. Another thing that contributes to that feeling is the fact that parts of the record feel like they’re not really that cohesive musically, falling vaguely under the same genre umbrella but not really feeling that connected to one another. And the ones that do share a similar sound often do so to an extent where they become almost indistinguishable from one another, and even a little boring at times. 

Overall, “Deadbeat” has marked highlights, such as “Dracula” or “Not My World”; however, outside of the highlights, the remaining tracks, while not outright bad, aren’t all that compelling or memorable. It’s a pretty unfocused record, which often leaves the listener with the feeling like something’s missing from the mixes of the tracks, or their structuring. It feels like Parker slightly missed the mark with what he was going for, resulting in a body of work that, while showcasing some of his strengths as a producer and composer, could’ve definitely used some refining and improvement in the execution of its central concepts and ideas.

6.4/10