Tame Impala
Lonerism

The first adjective that comes to mind when talking about this album is “fresh”. It exudes youth, adolescence, festive days, lightheartedness, “whocaresaboutanything”, memories, and past eras.

When "Lonerism" begins, you are on a rail in a tunnel, rushing madly toward a light coming from the exit. You hear John Lennon's voice coming from there and suddenly: BAM! You are thrown out of the tunnel. The light bursts your pupils, and you realize you're flying over a valley with towering mountains where saturated sounds of powerful synths bounce off the Dolomitic walls. This is how "Lonerism", the second album from Australian band Tame Impala, begins, with a psychotic masterpiece called "Be Above It". With the second track, "Endors Toi", it becomes immediately apparent that the voice almost identical to Lennon's is no accident: the Beatles are the foundation of this album. The groundwork, the launch pad. The most acid and psychedelic Beatles. And they are evoked with saturated guitar rides and omnipresent keyboards. All in technicolor.

"Apocalypse Dream", one of the best tracks (although one couldn't say this is better than that), with its sudden changes, leads you into secret rooms, guided by a dreamy voice. "Whoa, and I’m getting closer, will I ever get up?”. Well, not now, we're just at the beginning.

In "Mind Mischief", it feels like playing among soap bubbles. A guitar riff, ever thicker and more distorted, and a bass that cradles you. The momentum doesn't wane, and the Australians continue to make you dream with "Music To Walk Home By": always synth everywhere and ethereal sounds.

The following track, "Why Won’t They Talk To Me?", indeed feels like a cry for help from a lonely boy trying to be strong by convincing himself that he doesn't care if no one talks to him, but in the end, he can't stand being alone. The synthesizer makes everything terribly adolescent, desperate, beautiful. Among the tracks, it may be the one with the most memorable chorus.

"Feels Like We Only Go Backward" is almost a ballad between two lovers who can't find common ground, and it's infinitely romantic. "Keep On Lying" continues the sad romanticism with a guitar reminiscent of early Beatles solos that then distorts, resembling Santana's electric snake, thus ploughing through a decade of music.

The change in direction of the album occurs with "Elephant": here, there's a whiff of Black Sabbath a mile away. Miles that become 2 with the arrival of Deep Purple in the guitar and keyboard solos. Elephant is the classic track for a night drive with the radio blaring, friends in the back drinking beer, and you feeling a bit like God.

However, the change in direction doesn't last long, because it immediately returns back, first with the brief interlude of "She Just Won’t Believe Me" and then definitively with "Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control" (a mile-long title no one will ever remember). "Nothing That Has…” (precisely) even winks at Magical Mystery Tour in the melody. You keep flying high, very high, above the clouds that softly caress you until the Tame decide to make you drop in synthetic spirals that could scratch you with their sharpness. Then everything's fine; the captain regains control, and altitude is resumed.

The album closes with "Sun’s Coming Up". It starts as a ballad: a piano and solo voice (oh come on, really?!). But then the album's most psycho-whawha guitar bursts in (ah, there it is) with tons of echoes, moving from one ear to the other, just to get you a little drunk again, fading into strange sounds and a child's voice.

"Lonerism" is, ultimately, an album that, despite drawing from bands and songs from nearly 50 years ago, sounds damn fresh and new. These 4 guys from Perth really know how to do it and offer us one of the best albums of 2012, in my opinion. It’s a breath of fresh air. It's a pause where you can rest without thinking, because it's impossible to reflect amid a sea of sounds and colors: you can only be carried away by the current to places that only we can imagine.