Review Summary: Losing colour.
The disappointment is hard to ignore. If
Currents was an iridescent lake shimmering with a rainbow,
Deadbeat is a concrete sidewalk reflecting the midday sun. The synths are flatter, the grooves are less dynamic, and the lyrics are more blunt. All Tame Impala albums should be a headphones-on experience, but listening in surround sound only drew attention to the monotonous drum patterns in over half the album’s songs. When I say I want my house music to evoke shapes and colours, I don’t mean grey squares.
But this is Tame Impala after all, and Kevin Parker still steps up to the plate. Despite being a step down,
Deadbeat’s best moments still show off his songwriting and production chops, in particular his singular knack for infusing a bright melody with pathos. “My Old Ways” is a promising start, and with its repetitive piano motif and lyrics of self-loathing, it feels like being stuck in a depressing spin cycle. He also nails the ending, with the dancing-while-contemplating “Afterthought”, and then “End Of Summer”, which is a beautiful finale, equal parts anxiety-inducing and spiritually cleansing. You begin to remember how Tame Impala’s music can make you feel emotions so uniquely complex.
However, you can’t help but think of what could have been. “Ethereal Connection” is perhaps the biggest example of the album’s struggles to achieve its full potential. When that oscillating synth bursts through, it is the most glorious moment on
Deadbeat (and unsurprisingly the most reminiscent of
Currents in that it sounds like the drowning-in-the-bath “Past Life”). At the same time though, its thumping instrumental breakdown is the most headache-inducing sequence of the album.
If Parker works on developing the newer, dancier components of Tame Impala’s sound to better complement the ruminative, psychedelic pop he’s already mastered on previous releases, I think that
Deadbeat part 2 could reach the heights of his best work. But the lake needs to refill.
