The Cover Uncovered: How Robert Beatty created the artwork for Tame Impala record ‘Currents’
The artwork of Tame Impala’s Currents was ubiquitous upon its release, the 2015 answer to the Arctic Monkey’s AM cover when it came to the bedroom wall real estate of indie fans.
The infamous silver ball ripping through waves of psychedelic sludge was almost inescapable, briefly becoming its own meme, which was usually something to the tune of: “If you see this album cover hanging in someone’s room, prepare to be asked if you know that Tame Impala is actually just one guy.”
But beyond the jokes, there is something deeply impactful about the cover. And it’s not just that its somewhat trippy appearance speaks to Kevin Parker’s psychedelic output. According to the designer of the artwork, Robert Beatty, its intriguing nature was crafted intentionally. Beatty told Pitchfork he liked creating art that got people talking, lingering on what it is they’re drawn to until they crack it.
“I don’t ever gravitate towards art for answers. I always want to come away with something with more questions,” the American artist said. “It goes back to it being a gateway to something. I think that that’s like a really important part of how I developed as an artist and a musician. It’s like these little doors that you are able to open up and they lead off to a pathway that just keeps working off in different directions.”
With that in mind, Parker asked Beatty to create the cover based on the concept of vortex shedding, which in fluid dynamics, happens when an object disturbs a surface – like the ripples raindrops leave in puddles. Parker had been collecting reference images, all of which Beatty noticed looked like optical art, with distinctive patterns and tight parallel lines that were so close together, it almost looked like they were vibrating.
Beatty’s answer to the almost mathematic inspiration Parker provided was the silver sphere knocking geometric lines into hazy swirls seen on Currents. He worked from references like the work of 1970s sci-fi designer Franco Grigani, as well as early ’70s film posters by Zdenek Ziegler and Karel Vaca. “All of these things implement stark graphic elements with photographic collage elements, which made sense for what I was going for,” he said.
“I approach both music and art in a similar way, which is for the most part is in a very improvisational and experimental way. I don’t necessarily know what I’m going to do when I sit down to do it, I just go with my instincts and see where it takes me,” he explained. For Beatty, the process of figuring out what compositions worked was “part of the fun of the process”. Done completely on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, creating the artwork was “process-oriented with a lot of trial and error”, Beatty was left to play around with technical tricks that would get the lines to look as if they were actually flowing around the objects.
Given that Currents was a massive sonic shift for Parker, the use of the vortex-shedding imagery seems fitting. It’s not a destructive force, and if anything, the changes the sphere forces through the parallel lines actually introduce more colour and texture to the cover, adding pools of vivid yellow to the purple backdrop. Similarly, although die-hard fans of Parker’s previous albums, Innerspeak and Lonerism, didn’t initially warm to Parker’s pivot to a more disco and pop sound, the shift away from insular psych-rock simply widened his appeal, introducing more synth and surf-pop to his arsenal – just as the sphere bought more visual intrigue in its wake.
Beatty told Vice that both he and Parker nod to old-school psychedelia in their work. “Both Tame Impala and I use elements of things we like from the past and personalise them without making art that is a pastiche or retro,” he said. “We are also both are often labelled as being psychedelic, but I think that word is overused and doesn’t really mean what people think it does most of the time.”
Despite Parker’s rambling psychedelic reputation, Currents lyrics are simple – but effective, as he sings: “Someone said they left together, I ran out the door to get her, she was holding hands with Trevor, not the greatest feeling ever” from ‘The Less I Know The Better’ being the primary example. But it’s fairly clear the focus was always on production, which is mirrored on Beatty’s cover. Everything on the album was heavily processed, with double tracking and a thick, echoey reverb soaking the entire thing. That is the defining element of Currents and a lot less important than some occasionally pedestrian lyrics. Just as the covers artwork does, explicit meanings give way to sonic textures and shapes, the result being a fuzzed-up piece of music with equally fascinating album imagery.
