Currents is the sound of Kevin Parker blowing up his own blueprint. After two albums of fuzzed-out psychedelic rock, Tame Impala's third record pivots decisively toward synthesizers, drum machines, and disco-inflected grooves that owe more to Daft Punk and Michael Jackson than to the Cream and Hendrix worship of Innerspeaker. It was a risk that could have been disastrous. Instead, it produced a record of startling beauty and emotional depth.
The production is astonishing. Parker, who plays every instrument and mixes everything himself, constructs sonic environments of extraordinary complexity. "Let It Happen" — seven and a half minutes of phased synthesizers, shuffling beats, and a mid-song breakdown where the audio literally skips and stutters like a malfunctioning CD — is one of the most audacious opening statements of the decade. The way the bass synthesizer emerges from beneath the glitching section, gradually restoring order, is a moment of pure production genius.
Parker's guitar has not disappeared entirely, but its role has fundamentally changed. On "The Less I Know the Better," a rubbery bass line and a chicken-scratch funk guitar drive the track with an infectious groove that would not sound out of place on a Jamiroquai record. The guitar solo on "Eventually" — drenched in delay and tremolo, soaring above the synth pads — is Parker's farewell to his old sound, played with the wistfulness of someone who knows they cannot go back.
The vocal processing throughout is a masterclass in using technology to enhance emotional expression. Parker's voice is pitch-shifted, harmonised, and run through enough effects to make it sound genuinely otherworldly, but rather than creating distance, these treatments amplify the vulnerability of lyrics that deal with heartbreak, self-doubt, and the terror of change. "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" uses a vocoder to split Parker's voice into two — one high, one low — creating a literal embodiment of the internal conflict the lyrics describe.
Currents proved that psychedelic music does not need guitars or vintage equipment to achieve its effects. Parker found new ways to alter consciousness using the tools of pop and electronic music, and the result is an album that sounds like the future while feeling intimately, achingly human.
