Kevin Parker provides promising update on new Tame Impala album
Kevin Parker has provided a promising update on the next Tame Impala album, confirming the highly-anticipated LP is currently in the works.
Since the release of Tame Impala’s debut album, Innerspeaker, back in 2010, Parker has secured his place as one of the biggest names in indie music and beyond. However, it has now been four years since his last full-length release under the moniker, The Slow Rush, which hit streaming and record stores in early 2020.
Now, Parker has provided a promising update on the upcoming fifth Tame Impala record. “All I can say is that I’m working on it,” he stated during a recent conversation with The Guardian. “It’s not finished yet,” he acknowledged, “but I think it’ll be there, soon.”
Parker seemed particularly upbeat by this new record, divulging, “I’m loving how excited I am by it – for me, with Tame Impala, if I’m not feeling inspired, there’s no fucking point in doing it.”
Since the release of The Slow Rush, Parker has been expanding his production credits in the pop world. He collaborated with the Weeknd on his 2020 album After Hours, working with Oneohtrix Point Never on the interlude ‘Repeat After Me’, and linked up with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz for their eighth record, Cracker Island, last year.
Most recently, Parker collaborated with pop star Dua Lipa on her third album, Radical Optimism. Following the disco-pop leanings of the last Tame Impala record, The Slow Rush, the collaboration made perfect sense. Parker produced several songs on the LP, including the lead single ‘Houdini’, which found widespread chart success.
Upon the release of Radical Optimism, Parker took to Instagram to share his admiration for the pop star, calling her an “absolute weapon” and describing the record as a “mind blower.” “Don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of something I’ve worked on on release day,” he divulged. The record was released in May of this year, just ahead of Dua’s first-ever headline slot at Glastonbury Festival.
During her performance on the Pyramid stage, Dua brought Parker out as a special guest. Rather than playing a track from Radical Optimism, Dua opted to dip into Tame Impala’s catalogue for a rendition of their signature track, ‘The Less I Know The Better’. Parker then took to the decks for a surprise DJ set.
In the same interview with The Guardian, he explained of the Glastonbury collaboration: “The nicest thing about it was that it was Dua headlining Glastonbury, which is something she has wanted to do since she was a kid. I felt like I had a seat in someone’s dream that they were living – I was just happy to be a part of it.”
Perhaps, Parker is set to lean even further into pop and disco with the upcoming Tame Impala record. Only time will tell to see what direction the Australian chooses to take.
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