Tame Impala was recently nominated for 2 Grammy awards -- “Best Alternative Album” and “Best Rock Song” for the single "Lost In Yesterday." This marks the third nomination in the Alternative category for Parker, having previously been nominated for Currents and Lonerism. The 2021 GRAMMY Awards will take place on January 31st on CBS. In November, Tame Impala took home 5 of his 7 nominated categories at the Australian ARIA Awards -- the coveted “Album of the Year” award, “Best Group,” “Best Rock Album,” “Best Engineer,” and “Best Producer.” Earlier this year, Parker was nominated for 2 Billboard Music Awards and an American Music Award (AMA).
Parker has emerged as one of the most influential voices of the last decade. Earlier this year, he released his latest album, a deep reflection on the passage of time - The Slow Rush. "'The Slow Rush' is an extraordinarily detailed opus," said Pitchfork. "I have to marvel that all this sound and history comes from Parker alone, picking every string and twisting every knob." The Slow Rush has been named one of the best albums of 2020 by NPR, Complex, Uproxx and more. His last album, Currents (Interscope) was released in 2015 earning him a second GRAMMY nomination, RIAA Gold-certification and word-wide commercial success. The New York Times labeled it a "a tour de force" and Pitchfork said, "nearly every proper song on 'Currents' is a revelatory statement of Parker's range and increasing expertise as a producer, arranger, songwriter, and vocalist while maintaining the essence of Tame Impala." NPR noted, "[Parker] advocates for constant reinvention... That commitment to evolution helps make Tame Impala an unlikely but worthy candidate for major stardom."
He first toured the U.S. in 2010, playing small clubs for crowds of 200. A handful of trips to the U.S. later and thanks to the ravenous demand of fans for a transcendent live performance, Tame Impala has gone on to headline festivals and theaters around the world and released four full length albums - Innerspeaker, Lonerism , Currents and The Slow Rush. As a writer and producer Parker has collaborated with Travis Scott, SZA, Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Kanye West, Kali Uchis, Theophilus London, Miguel, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar and more.
In 2019 Tame Impala headlined multiple major festivals including Coachella, Primavera, Lollapalooza, ACL and more. He debuted two new songs on Saturday Night Live and sold out arenas around the world including two nights at New York City’s Madison Square Garden and two nights at the Los Angeles Forum. In support of The Slow Rush he has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (watch here), and Late Show With Stephen Colbert (watch here). In early March he performed “Breathe Deeper” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (watch here).
PRAISE FOR THE SLOW RUSH
“Fortunately, it was worth the wait: ‘The Slow Rush’ is arguably Parker’s most fully realized and satisfying effort to date. ‘The Slow Rush’ proves that Parker has earned all the time he needs.” -Variety
“Therein lies the crux of Tame Impala’s genius and the beauty of The Slow Rush, his most contemplative work: Parker filters the bleakest parts of himself through a thick and vibrant lens. Even as he expels his private demons, he’s encouraging us to dance to his pain.” -The Nation
“The Slow Rush is stunningly pure and heartfelt pop." -The Guardian
Kevin can do anything,” ...He can play anything, and play it incredibly well. He has killer melodic instincts. And he has an impossibly cool aesthetic when it comes to sonics, without ever trying to be cool. It can be intimidating to collaborate with someone like that, but also his take on things is so unique, I never want to distill that.” -Mark Ronson // Billboard's Tame Impala COVER feature
"Tame Impala's 'The Slow Rush' is worth the wait. Kevin Parker's first album in five years had a prolonged rollout, but he delivers on the Coachella-sized expectations." -Vice
“The melodies dwell in a sweet, idyllic late-afternoon mood that can veil the internal turbulence, doubt and emotional complexity lurking in the words. He's become a singer who can deepen a message through tone and inflection, conveying in a few syllables what some people spend pages trying to pin down.While everybody else in the catchy-song business seems to be running in circles, he's out there unapologetically having fun, creating new delivery systems for his own exotic brand of sonic euphoria.” -NPR
‘’The Slow Rush,’ an impressive integration of cosmic expansiveness and taut melody, is worth the wait. Even at their dreamiest, Tame Impala tracks have a pulse that invites bodies to move. That tension—between loose, mind-expanding psychedelia and the tight focus of dance-oriented pop—is what powers Mr. Parker’s music. [His} production virtuosity is clear from the outset...adding layer upon layer of gorgeous sound design. It reveals a brighter Tame Impala, one with a few extra beams of disco-ball twinkle.” -Wall Street Journal
“Tame Impala albums are worlds to get lost in... gazing awestruck, mouth agape, intently focused on the complex beauty unfolding before you. The Slow Rush continues that zoning out/zeroing in dynamic, but...sends it spiraling across time and space. Many of the songs slap in their own right, but they function best as complementary scenes in the journey, reinforcing the sensation of displacement within the timeline.” -Stereogum
“He has risen to the occasion with an album full of the necessary girth and scope, which doesn't succumb to the forces of inertia. **** -Uncut
“Clearly, all the tinkering paid off. The Slow Rush is an extraordinarily detailed opus whose influences reach into specific corners of the past six decades, from Philly soul and early prog to acid house, adult-contemporary R&B, and Late Registration...The effect is something like multiple YouTube videos accidentally playing at once, a restless mind making gorgeous chaos—the work of a true perfectionist. Even without the adrenaline-filled highs, the compositions are as rich and thoughtful as ever..” -Pitchfork
“Parker is a master of studio songcraft; each track flows seamlessly from one to the next in one cohesive journey, capturing uplifting, laidback summer vibes throughout.****” -The Independent
“As far as follow-ups to an earth-shattering run of albums go, this is much more than just a solid return. It is, overall, an exhilarating listen. This band aren’t rock music’s saviours; they’re so much more than that. ****”-NME
“A cornucopia of sounds and styles from across dance music’s past and present. One of the chief pleasures to be had from The Slow Rush is the sheer depth of sonic treats packed into each song. Tame Impala might be operating in a field of one, but even then, Kevin Parker is still streaks ahead.” -Q – 4 stars **** (Album of the Month)
“‘The Slow Rush’ digs deeper into the new version of Tame Impala that Parker located on Currents. It is a better album, more purposeful and with improved lyrics. Despite fame and a broader musical canvas, he remains as inward in perspective as ever. ****” -The Financial Times
“Tame Impala, is as much a self-reflective open letter to the world as it is a beautifully obfuscating, transmuting, rippling piece of music. On the 12-track album, Parker reminisces, offers notes on where he's come from, where he's been, and what the future might hold for his psyche, all amidst Tame Impala's signature dreamy, 1960s-retro-through-a-million-pedals sound.” -Popmatters
“Kevin Parker is a prog-rock wiz with a heart of pop gold, spooling out resplendent psychedelic symphonies in Tame Impala... floating above his thick disco, funk, and trip-hop beats...everything seems obsessively considered, as if he spends more time perfecting the hi-hat clicks than most artists take making their whole record. If someone told you an army of musicians had contributed to The Slow Rush, you wouldn’t be surprised.” -Rolling Stone
“In the end, the wait is definitely worth it. ‘The Slow Rush’ is the sound of a band broadening out, trying new things, it’s another aspect of Parker’s innate sense of balance. ‘The Slow Rush’ is testament to the patient productivity and unrelenting creativity of Kevin Parker.” -Clash
“Listening to the long-awaited The Slow Rush, one gets the sense that Parker won’t have to resort to outside forces in order to draw out [the] feeling of jolting, kinetic pleasure any longer: after years of gesturing toward the trappings of dance music, rock’s most compelling auteur has turned in an album seemingly designed to dilate pupils and increase heart rates.” -The Fader
“A triumph… Tripped out and joyfully intoxicating, Tame Impala one-man marvel Kevin Parker excels himself here.” Daily Mirror – 5 stars *****
“Blissful, life-affirming, intoxicating soundscapes... A mesmerising opus.” The Sun – 4.5/5
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