For Tame Impala, the third time really was the charm, with their third studio album being their best-performing LP even a decade later.
That’s not to say Tame Impala wasn’t a hit in the five years between their debut and Currents, but the album, produced entirely by singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker, marked a clear shift in sound for the Australian group, from psychedelic rock to dance music.
Ten years on, Currents is the kind of album that has been heard by millions, whether or not it’s known by name. On release, it debuted at number one in Australia (and was certified platinum), number three in the UK and number four in the US. It would go on to win five awards, including Album of the Year, at the 2015 ARIA Music Awards.
The album’s launch was supported by some of its most popular singles including “Let It Happen”, “The Less I Know the Better”, “Cause I’m a Man” and “Eventually”. The entire album is transformative, a creative choice by Parker to highlight his life’s many transformations.
That’s clear with anything more than a glance, from the shift in genre compared to prior releases to the lyrics of personal growth, and even the album cover, which depicts an effect known in physics as vortex shedding — the disturbed flow of matter by an immovable object.
Parker developed the entire album and its autobiographical lyrics in his hometown of Fremantle, and drew influences from everything from a local power station to the end of a romantic relationship with French singer Melody Prochet.
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Despite taking early thematic inspiration from the effect of listening to “Staying Alive” while under the influence of magic mushrooms, and the popular pairing of Tame Impala’s music with recreational substances, some of Parker’s best songs were born in sobriety.
“I’d be disappointed if I was sat there with no ideas and thought: ‘Hey, maybe if I get stoned I’ll have some ideas,’ i’d feel quite defeated,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.
“At the same time, sometimes if I’m smoking a spliff halfway through a recording session it makes things sound more potent. When I had the idea for some of my best songs I was stone-cold sober. Some of my best songs I thought of stoned and recorded stoned. There’s no correlation.”
The creative process for Currents saw Parker sequester himself away in his home to live and breathe the work. Working from the early hours of the morning well into the night, taking breaks to swim at the beach (but writing songs even on the sand), Parker told Rolling Stone his mantra throughout the process was “give the music what it deserves.”
That dedication paid off. Rolling Stone Australia ranks Currents at number 12 on its 200 Best Australian Albums of all time, describing it as “an album that brims with confidence”, and saying “Tame Impala might have always been destined for greatness, but Currents didn’t just let it happen, Currents made it happen.”
