Album Review: Tame Impala - "Deadbeat"

Deadbeat sounds so lifeless, derivative, and void of any charm or personality. Kevin Parker's attempts at making dance music lacks the whimsy, charm, and magic that made Tame Impala such a great and interesting project in the first place. It's a vapid listening experience.

Columbia - 2025

2020's The Slow Rush feels like it was released ages ago. 2015's Currents feels even more so. So when I initially heard about a new, fifth album coming down the pipe from Kevin Parker's massive psych pop project Tame Impala, how did I respond? "Ehh... I'll check it out... I guess?" So yeah, I wasn't really excited for this thing. InnerSpeaker, Lonerism, and Currents are the iconic trilogy that any band wishes they could produce, let alone a single artist. 2010's InnerSpeaker is a fantastic psych rock collection and 2012's Lonerism is a stone cold classic to my ears. It's one of my favorite albums of all time. Many people believe that 2015's Currents, Parker's third album, is a masterpiece and cultural touchstone in modern pop music. I would agree to an extremely certain extent. Currents is a good album and has absolutely incredible moments a la "Let It Happen" and "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" but you can't trick me into saying it's a masterpiece. It just isn't, folks. It's got some flaws, some ideas that just don't work. I will forever hate "'Cause I'm a Man." The album simply does not match up to the previous two albums. It's a strong 7/10 and I'll die on my deathbed by proudly proclaiming this. 2020's The Slow Rush didn't do any better for me. Parker fully swapped the guitars for the synthesizer and there's no turning back. Aside from some neat production choices and a couple of good songs here and there ("Patience" is incredible but alas, it's tragically a B-side). To be fair, it's not as bad now as when I initially heard it five years ago, but it's still a heavily disappointing record for me.

Now five years have passed since The Slow Rush and my excitement has waned for his next album. Deadbeat is the title of Kevin Parker's new album, proudly labelled under the Tame Impala name. It's in reference to Parker becoming a father, a loser, a deadbeat. I can get the themes of his lack of confidence, wanting to be the person you used to be, and overall wanting to be a better, cooler person. When hearing the themes of this album, though, Parker pushes these themes on the listener hard. They seem genuinely forced and they can come off as annoying and frustratingly amateurish and rough. I think as an artist, you can really make a profound piece of work by deadbeat dad self deprecation. I mean, take any late Bahamas record and you're golden (Sad Hunk, anyone?). But boy, the lyrics don't come off as charming on here and are only memorable for the worst. Take the lyrics from "No Reply" as an example: "You're a cinephile, I watch Family Guy / on a Friday night, off a rogue website / when I should be out with some friends of mine." Jesus Christ man... need I say more? The lyrics and singing can sound off quite often across this record, and it's not just on some one-off occasion.

Sure, the lyrical themes are rough, but what's the most glaring and alarming issue with Deadbeat is the actual music itself. Deadbeat is a straight up, cookie cutter electro pop and dance record. It's not a psych pop record, nor is it a psych rock record. There's barely a lick of psychedelia on here and when there is, it's so faint that you can barely hear hear it. Hell, there's barely a lick of personality on here. I've had to remind myself several times that this is a Tame Impala record, not a record from some underground DJ's debut album that he made on his computer. This is not something I should be reminding myself of constantly when listening to a fucking Tame Impala album. The production is bland as hell. Simplified beats, progressions, and electronics are laid throughout the record with a super limited sonic palette. It's flat, boring, and lifeless. Gone is the whimsy, charm, and magic that made Tame Impala such a great and interesting project in the first place. It's so generic and flat that it's incredibly hard to pick apart in a review. It's that uninteresting.

There are inklings of catchiness and fun. The looping piano on opener "My Old Ways" is an example of this, that is, before it loses its flavor. "No Reply" is monotonous and obnoxious and has some of Parker's worst singing and lyrics to date. Seriously, what is this vocal delivery? It sounds so lazy and uninspired. "Loser" is one of the highlights simply due to it being just pleasant enough to listen to with its light funk instrumental. It's unremarkably background but at least it's pleasant. There's a bit of cutesy quirkiness on "Dracula" that I can kind of appreciate. The same goes for "Afterthought," even though it clearly is ripping off Michael Jackson's "Thriller" groove. I like the core melodies and overall aesthetic on "Oblivion." It's light and airy, despite it instantly being forgotten about after listening. "Ethereal Connection" is obnoxious and borderline unlistenable. It attempts at an industrial dance groove, but ends up just being a copy of someone who could clearly do this style better. "Not My World" is a generally decent and mild attempt at club friendly instrumental that goes better than most of the other songs. "See You Monday" is an attempt at an emotional synth ballad, but Parker's sorely uncalculated vocals don't do the trick for me. Lead single "End of Summer" lands with a dud and as the album's final track, it truly lacks any sort of satisfying resolution or importance. Its seven minute runtime is completely undeserving with a lazy, boring attempt at a chorus. In one ear and out the other, I suppose.

What happened here? I mean, seriously? Kevin Parker clearly wanted to try something new and take a detour from the psychedelic pop and rock he's previously achieved and mastered at. I can commend him for trying something new and different but man, was this a huge misstep. You've missed the step entirely that you've fallen off completely. Deadbeat sounds so lifeless, derivative, and void of any charm or personality. I honestly think he has it in him to make a good dance album but that's not what happened here at all. It took him five years to make this? And to label this under the Tame Impala umbrella is truly depressing to me. This is the same guy that made Lonerism? I can't believe it. Deadbeat sounds like a side project at best. It's clearly a lazy, uninspired attempt at making a dance record, lacking any sort of flavor or color. It makes The Slow Rush look like a masterwork to be honest with you. So yeah, I really didn't like this album at all. As with all the fans who were excited for this thing... I feel for you the most. Deadbeat may have been a jokey, tongue and cheek title about himself, but it's pretty accurate for the music itself.

My Rating: 3 / 10

Favorite Songs: "Loser," "Afterthought," "Oblivion"