Tame Impala - It Might Be Time (Single Review)

The return of the psychedelic king

In the 4 years since Currents, Tame Impala have become one of the biggest names in alternative music and the anticipation for a new album is finally drawing to a close. Kevin Parker, the creative at the heart of the band, has announced that album #4 is out on 14th February, and along with this announcement comes a brand new single...

Whilst previous singles "Patience" and "Borderline" carried on where Currents left off, delivering slightly funky, synth-infused R&B over rather retro beats, new single "It Might Be Time" delves farther back into their career, revisiting the band's psychedelic side in a glorious fashion. There is a more oddball sound to this one, the drums are incredibly distorted and the synthline shrieks around as one of the main melodies of the song. Musically, it's not too far removed from anything he's done before but it does feel new and not a retreat of past albums.

The focus of this song is, as it should be, on the lyrics. Kevin contemplates the impermanence of relationships and situations, portraying his fears of loneliness and loss as an inevitable threat looming over bonds with people however established or new they may be. Insecurities are a common topic for Tame Impala lyrics, and whilst this song definitely looses some of it's focus in the chorus there is more than enough here to latch onto. The repeated motif of time passing are open to interpretation and many fans are claiming it is about the wait for the new album, and how he struggles to release music because he wants to keep working on it forever, a fault of his perfectionist nature. Others say it focuses on a lover or friend outgrowing him, and whilst I think this is a more likely and harder hitting topic I appreciate the different angles you can view this in.

All in all, it's probably my favourite of the three singles he's released this year and it's left me eager to here more from his upcoming album. Given how sonically different it is to the previous singles, it looks like it could be his most diverse record yet. "It Might Be Time" gets a strong 8 out of 10 from me.

Atmosphere: 4/5
Catchiness: 3/5
Instrumentation: 4/5
Lyrics: 5/5
Production: 4/5

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"It Might Be Time"

from The Slow Rush

Tame Impala

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