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May 08, 2015 Tame Impala By Christopher Roberts (Interview by Matt Fink)

Tame Impala have so far released four songs from their upcoming third album, Currents, but they have now finally confirmed a July 17 release date (on new label Interscope) and have released the tracklist (find that below, along with their upcoming tour dates).

Tame Impala are on the cover of Under the Radar‘s current print magazine. Pick up a copy now to read the first interview with Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker about Currents. The digital version of the magazine (for iPads/iPhones) also contains a bonus Q&A with Parker, sections of the interview not found in the print cover story. Below is an excerpt from that Q&A (conducted by Matt Fink), in which Parker talks about the inspiration behind Currents’ opening track and first single, “Let It Happen” (which you can also stream below). The interview was conducted while Parker was putting the finishing touches on the album and just before “Let It Happen” was released.

Matt Fink (Under the Radar): You said before that you spend most of your studio time trying to recapture the spirit of your original demo. Does that ever get any easier?

Kevin Parker: Yeah, I think I’m getting better as a producer. I think that’s one of the things that you only get with experience. It’s such a well-known phenomenon. The first crusty demo and first vocal take and first fuck around with the song has this energy and vibe to it that you can’t replicate. No matter how hard you try, you can’t get it back. But at the same time, I’m getting better at finding out what it was that was so cool about that original thing and being able to do it again. It’s hard to explain. A lot of my vocals are the first takes. So much is that true, that on the first song [on Currents], “Let It Happen,” there’s this part at the end where I’m singing through this keyboard sampler thing, almost like a vocoder but not really. And the first take I did, I was just singing gibberish and making sounds with my mouth just to test it out. And I didn’t even know what I was saying. I was saying words and stringing sentences together that weren’t really words. I do that a lot when I’m demoing and fleshing out ideas, because I’ve got the emotion in me, but I haven’t turned it into words yet. So I was just doing that, and then I left that for months and months, always planning to go back and re-record it with real lyrics. And I only did it a few days ago, a week before mastering. I’m totally contradicting what I said before, but I couldn’t get back the same groove I did when I was speaking in tongues. So I had to make the decision, like, “Fuck it. I’ll just leave the speaking in tongues version on the album.” It will never make sense, but the song is called “Let It Happen,” and it’s about allowing what is overtaking you to take control. So I was, “Well, if there’s one song where this is allowed, I guess it’s this one. I have no idea what I was saying, but I guess fans will string the words together and try to work out what I was subconsciously thinking.” Because that has been a layer to it, as well, letting your subconscious battle.

Do you remember your first idea for that track?

Yes and no. I think most of that song was put together at different times, when I was on tour, actually. I remember it came to me, I think I was walking to my hotel room in Oklahoma. And then the chorus, I was at a festival in Hungary or Turkey. And then the midsection, the jam bit, I was on a train. That’s a bit looping and a weird repetitive thing going on, and I had my laptop on a train in France, going to Toulouse. I think with that song, one thing led to another. I was just jamming by myself in the way I do, and I put it on a loop to see what sounds cool. I just see where it takes me. That’s something I used to do when I made music when I was younger. I wouldn’t even have an idea of where it was going to go, and I would let the song write itself in a sense and not be closed off to any things that you can use, those little elements that can come in. It’s coming out next week, I think. If I can actually get my shit together by Monday, the whole album that is. And by “my shit,” I mean the entire fucking album. [Laughs]

That song seems like quite a departure. You haven’t really jumped so thoroughly into dance music in your previous work.

But for that song, I wouldn’t know [what style it is], especially because I’ve been working on this album for so long, and this happens every time. You work on something for so long, and you listen to it and you get so involved in a different realm of the music that you lose all perspective of what it sounds like to hear it for the first time and what it will sound like to other people and what they think it will sound like. For me, by the time I’m finished with an album I have absolutely no idea what it sounds like. I have no idea what genre it is. I have no idea what people will say it sounds like or what category it will be put in. To me, it sounds totally different from anything ever. But I know that after the album is released and I haven’t listened to it for a year, I’ll listen back to it and go, “Oh yeah. I can hear this or that.” But at the moment, it’s a completely abstract and separate piece of music from the rest of the world. I’m hoping that’s how it comes across to other people, as well. But that worries me: if something is completely different and not part of any genre, then when does it get played? What kind of atmosphere does it fit into if it doesn’t fit into any genre? But that’s equally as inspiring as it is worrying.

Currents Tracklisting:

1. Let It Happen

2. Nangs

3. The Moment

4. Yes I’m Changing

5. Eventually

6. Gossip

7. The Less I know The Better

8. Past Life

9. Disciples

10. Cause I’m a Man

11. Reality In Motion

12. Love/Paranoia

13. New Person, Same Old Mistakes

Tame Impala Tour Dates:

Fri May 8 - Levitation Fest - Austin, TX

Sat May 9 - Civic Theatre, New Orleans, LA - SOLD OUT

Sun May 10 - Shaky Knees Festival - Atlanta, GA

Mon May 11 - Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN - SOLD OUT

Wed May 13 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN - SOLD OUT

Thurs May 14 - Riverside Theater - Milwaukee, WI

Fri May 15 - Riviera Theatre - Chicago, IL - SOLD OUT

Sat May 16 - The LC Pavilion - Columbus, OH

Mon May 18 - Royal Oak Music Theatre - Royal Oak, MI

Tues May 19 - Massey Hall - Toronto, ON - SOLD OUT

Wed May 20 - Metropolis - Montreal, QC - SOLD OUT

Thurs May 21 - Metropolis - Montreal, QC - SOLD OUT

Fri May 22 - Boston Calling Festival - Boston, MA

Mon May 25 - Sasquatch! Festival - George, WA

Tues May 26 - Malkin Bowl - Vancouver, BC - SOLD OUT

Wed May 27 - Roseland Theater - Portland, OR - SOLD OUT

Fri May 29 - The Depot - Salt Lake City, UT

Sat May 30 - Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO - SOLD OUT

Sun May 31 - Uptown Theater - Kansas City, MS

Mon Jun 1 - The Pageant - St. Louis, MS

Wed Jun 3 - Stage AE - Pittsburgh, PA

Thurs Jun 4 - House Of Blues - Cleveland, OH

Fri Jun 5 - Bunbury Music Festival - Cincinnati, OH

Fri Jun 7 - Governor’s Ball Festival - NYC, NY

Sat Jun 6 - Echostage - Washington D.C

Fri Jul 24 - Splendour In The Grass - Byron Bay, Australia

Fri Jul 31 - Lollapalooza - Chicago, IL

Fri Aug 7 - Outside Lands Festival - San Francisco, CA

Thurs Aug 20 - Paredes de Coura - Viana Do Castelo, Portugal

Fri Aug 21 - Lowlands Festival - Biddinghuizen, Netherlands

Tue Aug 25 - Mojotic - Sestri Levante, Italy

Wed Aug 26 - Rock In Roma - Rome, Italy

Fri Aug 28 - Teatro Romano - Verona, Italy

Sat Aug 29 - Zurich Openair Festival - Zurich, Switzerland

Sun Aug 30 - Rock En Seine - Paris, France

Sat Sep 5 - End of the Road Festival - Gardenstown, UK

Sun Sep 6 - Electric Picnic - Dublin, Ireland

Tues Sep 8 - Barrowland - Glasgow, Scotland

Wed Sep 9 - Olympia - Liverpool, UK

Thurs Sep 10 - Bestival - Isle of Wight, UK

Sat Sep 12 - Lollapalooza - Berlin, Germany

Fri Oct 2 - Austin City Limits - Austin, TX

Fri Oct 9 - Austin City Limits - Austin, TX

www.tameimpala.com