Tame Impala
Deadbeat
COLUMBIA

A lot has changed in Kevin Parker’s personal life since he originally conceived Tame Impala in Perth around 2007. While the past decade has seen him flirting with stardom after a run of GRAMMY-nominated recordings and collaborative turns with huge artists like Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, and Travis Scott, the most significant milestone came with the birth of his first daughter the year after he released the pre-pandemic LP The Slow Rush. As its album cover suggests, family life is at the heart of his fifth full-length Deadbeat, as the lyrics to the mid-album cut “Piece of Heaven” lovingly address his daughter’s messy bedroom.

Parker also says he’s deep in his rave era, describing Deadbeat as being “deeply inspired by bush doof culture and the Western Australia rave scene.” But the record sounds most defined by a conflict between the past and present, waffling at the crossroads of an incredible career. He’s having fun with his personal and professional influences this time around, and is less fastidious with the overall mix, which helps maintain his slacker charisma in the lineage of Beck. The lyrics may not hit as hard as they once did, but there are references to Family Guy and Pablo Escobar, while “Dracula” feels like his best shot at soundtracking a Halloween TikTok trend.

There’s a fuzzy demo quality permeating Deadbeat, suggesting Parker’s insistence on pushing back against where his career is inevitably heading. At the onset of album opener “My Old Ways,” he sings over a simple piano riff, an instrument which returns at the end of the next track. The high-production gloss of The Slow Rush and Currents disappears on occasion throughout the rest of the album, though most of the record keeps the lights down low and the bright dance beats at a steady thump. Though he digs up old lyrical themes like jealousy, regret, and deep anxiety in social situations, the focus here remains primarily on soothing the psyche with pleasant production. The synthetic strings on “Piece of Heaven” are reminiscent of Enya’s best tracks, while standby references to The Beatles (“See You on Monday (You’re Lost)”), Jeff Mills (“Not My World”), and techno culture (“Obsolete”) keep us guessing.

Tame Impala’s trajectory from psychedelic ’60s and ’70s pop-rock, and Parker’s more recent ascendancy through electronic means, gets a heat check in 2025. Deadbeat is an odd follow-up after a summer of banger beats from early album singles “End of Summer,” “Loser,” and “Dracula.” The remaining track list, on the other hand, shoots a few salvos to the left and right of the dance target. Although Deadbeat takes three steps forward into full techno and rave music and two steps back to Tame Impala’s electro-rock and pop safety net, Parker has the slacker charisma to pull it off for at least two thirds of the album. The last-minute add “Afterthought,” which was slotted into the penultimate spot during the mixing process, plays like a concert setlist ripcord moments after a mid-section lull.

Many Deadbeat tracks will probably work in a live setting, but they’re too spacey and mired in self-consciousness as recorded material. The bass beats and melodies are present, though they largely lack the hummable power of anything off Parker’s last two albums. The playful experimentation is consistent, though his typically relatable songcraft varies in quality.

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