I’ve realized that I really like Tame Impala’s 2015 release, Currents. See, when I first met Kevin Parker’s psych-rock project I felt that there was nothing like them. Listening to their first record, Innerspeaker, was an introvert’s delightful experience. So the change Parker made in their third album was, at the very least, unbalancing. It took a while, but now I think that it deserved the attention it gathered.

Because Tame Impala gathered attention alright. Since the release of Currents they have headlined myriad festivals and toured all over the world, and they’ll headline Coachella this year. With the help of the unrelenting ‘Let It Happen’ and the extremely groovy ‘The Less I Know The Better’ the album pushed Tame Impala to the upper echelon of rock music popularity. In The Slow Rush, Parker has decided to put nostalgia upfront, covered and surrounded by more electronic beats and groovy synths. The result is a lighter album than Currents.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The record glides without problem from the beginning and there are interesting moments until the end. The instrumentation now tries to give importance to a different kind of approach, one that finds Parker looking forward to the future with optimism. ‘I never wanted any other way to spend our lives’, he sings in his unmistakable falsetto on opener ‘One More Year’, over a burbling synth. This line that speaks directly about his recent marriage, then he reflects: ‘I know we promised we’d be doing this ’til we die, and now I fear we might’, coming to termns with this new reality. This kind of thoughts are peppered throughout The Slow Rush: making peace with your present and giving yourself the opportunity to be excited for what’s to come.

Something that stands out, that it’s quite an absolute truth at this point, is how Parker has become a true studio wizard. Every keyboard, synth, drum machine and guitar are arranged with a passionate perfectionism and the songs are all better for it. Take ‘Breathe Deeper’, for instance. The piano riff is instantly funky and stays like that even if there’s synths and guitars coming in unexpectedly. Which is something you can say of several songs in here. In single, and album highlight, ‘It Might Be Time’, when the song breaks into the chorus with thundering drums, you wonder how it works with the preceding melody, but it does.

There are definitely moments where the beats and melodies feel overused or too derivative . The combination of 80s dancing rhythms and arrangements and Tame Impala’s trademark psychedelic aesthetic doesn’t always work well on The Slow Rush. However, this is Kevin Parker using all his talent in a new direction, and its difficult no to be amazed by the fact that everything about this record, like the other three, is a product of his mind.

Ultimately, The Slow Rush marries fairly well Tame Impala’s straightforward, catchy lyricism with their increasingly nuanced and intricate instrumentation. It’s groovy and quite listenable and it has several arresting moments. If there are elements that make it feel like a step down from its predecessor, I’m guessing this responds to a bigger reality. We could name this a transitional record, mainly because Parker’s life has suffered significant changes. But as far as new beginnings go, taking in account this album’s rich and engaging moments, we can also be excited for the future. Even if it seems that Tame Impala has loosen up for now.