New Tame Impala album The Slow Rush drops: the verdict is in
Despite its ever-expanding scope and commercial appeal, Kevin Parker’s music remains decidedly introspective.
POP/ELECTRONIC
The Slow Rush
Tame Impala
Island Records Australia
Tame Impala may be a mainstream proposition these days – thanks to 2015’s breakthrough Currents – but the project is still very much an outlet for Fremantle’s Kevin Parker to air his anxiety and self-doubt. Though this fourth album pushes further into high-gloss dance music, Parker worries aloud about getting enough sleep, committing to music when all his friends are “growing up” and judging whether or not he’s “still on track”. Those unabashed personal inventories mean that, even with Rihanna and The Weeknd collaborations on his CV, Parker is making something like intimate bedroom pop for the masses. As with each Tame Impala album, he produced The Slow Rush himself, playing every instrument before delegating those duties to his longtime live band. So despite its ever-expanding scope and commercial appeal, his music remains decidedly inward-looking. If the emotional core of these songs can take more time to emerge from such panoramic, synth-gilded production, Posthumous Forgiveness snaps us right to attention. A ballad about Parker’s late father, it gets as specific as sharing the surreal feeling of having “Mick Jagger on the phone” and as universal as wishing for what’s no longer possible: “Wanna tell you about my life.”
‘This is a record that’s as much internet-era therapy session as club-ready comfort food’
The plaintive acoustic guitar opening to Tomorrow’s Dust provides another instant connection, while the sticky electronic pulse elsewhere feels somewhat distant until repeat listens tease out the nuances of Parker’s meticulous embellishment. But with songs as bubbly as these, there’s plenty of euphoric escapism in the meantime. And for all the dancefloor shorthand like the stuttered keyboard stabs and airhorn-like effect on It Might Be Time, that same track taps distorted rock drumming that carries right through from early Tame Impala records. Still an affable everyman despite his great success, Parker closes the album with the humble wish to secure some time alone and remember who he is. On a record that’s as much internet-era therapy session as club-ready comfort food, that parting plea for emotional grounding rings most true of all.
Doug Wallen
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JAZZ
Beautiful Friendship
James Morrison & Jeff Clayton
Long Player/Universal
Australia’s James Morrison and American Jeff Clayton met in the Philip Morris Superband in 1989. This spirited 2012 session displays their friendship and empathy. Clayton comes across as a joyful preacher on alto saxophone, in the mould of Cannonball Adderley. As usual Morrison (trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone) produces brilliant, melodic improvisations, always on the cusp of flexing his prodigious technique. Half of the 10 tracks feature Clayton compositions, while others include refreshing versions of well-known standards: Ellington’s Don’t Get Around Much Anymore as a slow ballad, and Cole Porter’s I Love You alternating between differing time-feels. A luminous presence throughout is Perth pianist Konrad Paszkudzki, with Brett Hirst or Phil Stack (bass) and drummer Gordon Rytmeister playing beautifully.
Eric Myers
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WORLD/POP
Amazones Power
Les Amazones D’Afrique
Real World/Planet
Les Amazones d’Afrique is an admirable pan-African collective that unites contemporary female vocalists from Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Benin, Algeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo in a bid to counter gender inequality, misogyny and violence. In the opening salvo, the sistas’ singing (and message) is unfortunately eclipsed by the cacophonous sound of heavy-handed electronica. During the cogent core of Les Amazones’s second album, in which the backing is less clamorous and more organic, the soaring voices of lead vocalists Rokia Kone and Mamani Keita and sweet choral harmony cut through the clatter. Nacera Quali Mesbah brings Algerian rai Arabic pop edge to a song about rebels. An adjacent number exuding sub-Saharan desert blues feel mixes talking drums and modern beats, while the title track brings the set to a soulful conclusion.
Tony Hillier
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FOLK/SWING
Koorlangka
Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse
Independent
Honey-voiced Gina Williams sang Noongar lullabies into the ancient stone gorges of Karijini National Park last year, and the echoing canyons inspired even more songs. With her brilliant guitarist collaborator Guy Ghouse, and a rich but restrained blend of Dolce Ensemble strings and piano, Williams has recorded 12 songs for her third album, Koorlangka (Children). Williams reclaimed her Aboriginal Noongar language as an adult, making the sweetly gentle lullabies she has written even more poignant. Lush tracks make way for simpler ditties like Bindi Bindi (The Butterfly) with infectious rhyming lines for kids. For adults, there’s a husky “go to sleep” rendition of Moon River and pert, Ella Fitzgerald-inspired swing in Keyen, Koodjal, Daambart (One, Two, Three). Williams’s warm, soothing vocals blend with Ghouse’s fine playing to touch the emotions with unexpected tenderness.
Victoria Laurie
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POP
Supervision
La Roux
Supercolour Records
Although La Roux’s self-titled debut came out months before the end of the 2000s, it still contained some decade-best pop classics (In for the Kill, Bulletproof). Since then, however, it’s been a series of false starts. A public split with producer Ben Langmaid eclipsed second album Trouble in Paradise, and it’s taken figurehead Elly Jackson six years to follow up. That’s partially why Supervision underwhelms, but a home truth is that a lot of the blame lays with Jackson. Left almost entirely to her own devices, album No 3 is a collection of cheap-sounding loops, chicken-scratch guitar and forgettable hooks. Her vocals, once distinct and confident, now bleat and mumble faux-romantic nothings. It also doesn’t help that not a single track falls below the four minutes, meaning songs either drag needlessly (Automatic Driver) or move at a glacial pace (Gullible Fool). Sadly, this album offers too little too late.
David James Young
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PLAYLIST: CASH SAVAGE, SINGER-SONGWRITER
Five songs on high-rotation
01. The Next Fix Crack Cloud
This crew are my favourite band of 2019. It’s hard to find music like this – the perfect balance of busy and space.
02. Old. Self. Doubt. Bench Press
The guitar tone that Morgan Griffiths gets is something else.
03. Thaw Black Sea Dahu
There is every chance hearing this song has changed my life. It really hit me.
04. Something On Your Mind Karen Dalton
I rubbished this when I first heard it; a couple of months later, I gave it a second go. I’m hooked: a perfect Sunday morning song.
05. Just Like You Viagra Boys
I love little dogs that think they are big dogs, and songs with a twist.