Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Neil Krug

“You don’t have to sugarcoat it,” Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker shares in a new interview with Q magazine.

When questioned asked of the five-year gap between third album Tame Impala album Currents and fourth The Slow Rush, Parker readily admits: “It took an embarrassingly long time.”

With Tame headlining Coachella in 2019  and also embarking on an extensive US tour, the anticipation of a new album ran high amongst fans.

Much to their disappointment, the album eventuated.

“I told everyone it was definitely going to be out in March and I just didn’t have it,” Parker reveals, “It didn’t feel right.”

Parker began work on the album in 2018, but in addition to his commitments touring, working recording with other artists and getting married, a bushfire destroyed a Malibu rental property he was used to recording, taking along with it $40,ooo of his equipment.

“I honestly thought I would be coming back in a few hours,” he confides. “But the whole house burned down. That was pretty intense.”

In the interview, Parker also discusses the highly personal lyrics of Slow Rush single ‘Posthumous Forgiveness’, a song that deals with Parker’s troubled relationship with father Jerry.

“It’s something I could only write now,” he reflects, “not being afraid to tell my story.”

Parker’s father was critical of his son’s decision to pursue music as a career, cautioning him that while it may make him wealthy it would ruin his enjoyment of the art

Parker believed otherwise and still does.

Unfortunately, he was never able to bring his father to share his point of view as Jerry passed away from cancer shortly before the release of Tame Impala‘s first album InnerSpeaker.

The interview also reveals that Kevin is currently feeling ambitious.

“I hope this album is bigger than the last one,” he tells Q. “I always do.”

The Slow Rush will arrive on February 14.