“Yes I’m Changing” is my favorite Tame Impala song. I return to the opening lines often, so plaintive and uncomplicated:
I was raging, it was late
In the world my demons cultivate
I felt the strangest emotion but it wasn't hate
For once
I also love the changes in this song, I think because they’re really subtle; the verses shift from C to Csus2 to Cadd9 back to C in the A section. The cycle is satisfying because the suspensions resolve themselves around the same chord, almost imperceptibly.
Tame Impala is the solo project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. There are no collaborators listed on Currents (2015); it was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Parker. In a Pitchfork article detailing his experience making the album, it’s clear that Parker is an intense guy, with particular tastes and ideas. He says that the album caused a “completely extra dimension of absolute nervous breakdowns.” But his diligence paid off; Currents is the band’s most popular release, earning them two ARIAs (Best Rock Album and Album of the Year) and a Grammy (Best Alternative Music Album). It put Tame Impala on the mainstream map of electronic music.
The band became famous for its laser light shows on the festival circuit, most notably a Coachella headline show in 2019. I saw them at a festival in Detroit that summer, and the effect of the lights, which shift in time with the music, was entrancing. Because Currents is so bass and 808 driven, the effect of the lasers enhances the sonic experience ten-fold with a satisfying visual emphasis on the important moments. While “Yes I’m Changing” is one of their most mellow songs, I still found that the gently waving beams of light created an intense, other-worldly sensation.
“I Believe It Now” is on a playlist I’ve mentioned a few times of songs that make me feel like I’m on another plane of existence. It’s a single from the band Everything Everything that didn’t even make it onto a record. I have no idea where I first heard it. The little that I’ve explored Everything Everything’s discography tells me that it’s pretty different from the art-rock that they usually make, and some digging has informed me that it was actually written for a BT Sports commercial. Regardless of its origins or critical reception, I love this song.
The airy synths which make up the intro are quickly eclipsed by a confident electric guitar line which informs the energy of the song. The one through-line of Everything Everything’s diverse sound is frontman Jonathan Higgs’ falsetto performances. In “I Believe It Now,” his voice imbues a desperate, frenzied quality to the already forceful hook. The cymbal crashes sound absolutely bonkers, like the drummer is bashing his kit to bits every time the chorus rolls around. It’s kinetic, powerful, euphoric.
The one line that I know in the whole song is in the second verse:
You’re the animal for me, you’re the animal for me
Although the style is very different, it reminds me of one of my favorite lyrics ever in the Talking Heads lyric in “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody):”
I'm just an animal looking for a home
Share the same space for a minute or two
To the best of my knowledge, Everything Everything has never again put out such an anthemic pop rock song. If anyone knows where I can find more music like “I Believe it Now,” please inform me immediately.
I’ll highlight another solo moniker on this playlist: Youth Lagoon. Youth Lagoon, who now goes by his legal name Trevor Powers, has a cult following, especially the modern psychedelic record The Year of Hibernation (2011). It loosely follows his experience with anxiety and an intense fear of death; the title references the year spent making the record, in which his mental health declined and subsequently improved as the release date came to pass. He dropped out of school, quit his retail job, and went on tour—all on the buzz generated by his debut record. He signed with Fat Possum Records and released two more albums to critical acclaim, all while remaining the “dream pop wunderkind.”
Then suddenly in 2016, Powers took to Twitter to announce that Youth Lagoon was concluding. Moreover, “there [was] nothing left to say through Youth Lagoon.” He spoke to multiple music publications about how he felt Youth Lagoon had become a negative space for him, one where he felt his time was finished. The seemingly sudden departure left many fans confused and perhaps jeopardized Powers’ momentum as an indie rockstar, but blazed a pathway for artists to leave behind the projects that no longer serve them in favor of a fresh start and experimental freedom.
Now more than ever we’re seeing musicians collaborate, release solo material, and contribute to various groups outside their main project. Phoebe Bridgers is attached to boygenius and Better Oblivion Community Center, two relatively popular supergroups. Likewise, Melina Duterte of Jay Som is touring in Bachelor and just released a record with Annie Truscott as Routine. These deviations from name recognition and proprietary production were once major faux pas in the music industry even just a few years ago when Trevor Powers decided to shed Youth Lagoon forever. The rise in a more open, free-flowing music practice has had massive positive impacts on the landscape of new releases, primarily in volume of creative output by people who would otherwise be working in a vacuum. Trevor Powers’ decision to call it quits on something that was no longer productive or worthwhile for him, and continually succeeding as a working artist post-Youth Lagoon, is a testament to the value of artistic freedom that is shaping the music industry now.