Upon first listen, albeit a casual one, Tame Impala’s newest album, The Slow Rush, sounds different than @tameimpala of yore. It is almost like that Salvador Dali painting, The Persistence of Memory; it feels desolate, but at the same time, it is filled with details while also being something different, and both vaguely and specifically, about time.

The Slow Rush feels grand and cavernous like a Kevin Parker album should, but it’s different. The album is filled with little touches that fill the voids and creates an album that feels distinct from his others. This project is somehow funkier and has an electronica flare via expanded use of synths (maybe? probably?) than Parker’s previous three albums.

Tame Impala was always firmly in the psychedelic rock arena, but there’s a Washed Out/Wild Nothing vibe happening on The Slow Rush that might be best characterized by the opening of “Breathe Deeper.” It is still psychedelia, but there’s a difference in this variety of surreal. Especially in the final two minutes, Parker captures some of the ambiance one might associate with Tycho. I’ve come across the sub-genre hypnogogic pop, and it seems to fit, given the themes of time and the mixture of psychedelic and (something adjacent to) dream pop musical elements. “Tomorrow’s Dust” is another great example, really taking advantage of synthesizers and delivering something that is in the vein of Tame Impala but also something unto itself.

To borrow from Kobe Bryant, The Slow Rush is “a different animal and the same beast.” All in all, there is a lot of value here. Fans of classic Tame Impala will be happy, while also appreciating sounds that go beyond the familiar. Music fans will enjoy dissecting the different elements of the production and seeing how Parker continues his thematic love affair with time. On Instagram beneath a picture of the vinyl, Parker called The Slow Rush, “a year of my life in a cardboard sleeve. A year of blood, sweat and tears and joy and anguish.” For my money, it was a year well spent.