Impala

Tame Impala has announced the release date for a forthcoming album, titled ‘Deadbeat’.

The psychedelic music project of instrumentalist Kevin Parker returned in July with the seven-minute, house-inspired track ‘End Of Summer’, which the artist had previously debuted during a DJ set in Barcelona. Shortly before, he had shared a series of photographs on social media – revealing that he had “been busy” in the studio working on new music.

Now, the Tame Impala Instagram account has shared an image with the caption “LP5 – October 17”. The official website confirmed the title of the album as ‘Deadbeat’, as suggested in the post, and the image shared as its cover.

The description on the album’s pre-order store describe the fifth LP as “a collection of wickedly potent club-psych explorations as a vehicle for some of his most direct, brain-wormy songwriting to date, recasting Tame Impala as a kind of future primitive rave act in the process.”

It continues: “’Deadbeat’ sounds like the work of an artist with a levelled up mastery and bristles with a revitalized energy for experimentation. 12 songs crafted with a newfound embrace of spontaneity for the renowned perfectionist. How that manifests is a distinct minimalism and crunch to many of the tracks, with a clutch of crucial details, timbres and textures that add an ineffably new dimension to the sound, as well as a richer, more playful vocal range than ever.”

The announcement comes just after Tame Impala shared the video for new single ‘Loser’, which features Stranger Things star and Djo singer Joe Keery. The collaboration was teased through a series of posters spotted in New York and Chicago last week alongside a photograph of a younger Kevin Parker.

‘Deadbeat’ will be Tame Impala’s first full album since 2020’s ‘The Slow Rush’. In the time since, the producer and musician contributed to the Barbie soundtrack album, as well as collaborating with Dua Lipa, Thundercat, Diana Ross, Gorillaz and Justice.

In February, Parker won his first Grammy for ‘Neverender’ – one of his collaborations with Justice. Parker also reflected on the creation of his 2015 album ‘Currents’ recently, to mark its 10th anniversary.

After dropping two songs this summer, Tame Impala have announced a new album – their first in five years. The follow-up to 2020’s The Slow Rush is titled Deadbeat and arrives October 17 via Columbia. Check out the cover artwork for the album below.

Kevin Parker ushered in Tame Impala’s return in July with “End of the Summer,” which arrived with a trippy split-screen music video. Then, yesterday, he also rolled out the new song “Loser.” Tame Impala tapped Joe Keery—the Stranger Things and Pavements actor who records his own music as Djo—to star in that music video where, for a brief few seconds, he swaps places with Parker to tell the tale of a dejected burnout.

Deadbeat, according to a press release, “is deeply inspired by bush doof culture and the Western Australia rave scene.” Parker worked on the album in his Fremantle hometown and at his studio in Injidup, Western Australia. The 12-song project will include both “End of the Summer” and “Loser.”

Although The Slow Rush came out five years ago, Parker has been plenty busy since then. He won his first-ever Grammy Award, the Best Dance/Electronic Recording trophy, for the Justice collaboration “Neverender.” Then there’s all the film contributions, with Tame Impala recording “Journey to the Real World” for the Barbie movie, “Wings of Time” for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, a remix of “Edge of Reality” for Elvis, and the Diana Ross collaboration “Turn Up the Sunshine” for Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Of course, Parker has lent his skills to a number of other songs over the past couple years, too. The Tame Impala mastermind recorded “No More Lies” with Thundercat, “One Night/All Night” with Justice, “New Gold” with Gorillaz, and “Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better” with the Streets. That doesn’t even include all the remixes artists like 070 Shake, the Crowded House, and Justice have asked him to do, or him helming the production board for Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism.