Boston Calling 2019 - Saturday
Tame Impala at Boston Calling 2019 (more by Corwin Wickersham)

Tame Impala's new album seemingly delayed from expected summer release

It’s been a long wait for the new Tame Impala album, and though the release of new singles “Patience” and “Borderline” just ahead of Coachella (and an SNL performance around then) made it seem like the album was finally about to drop, it now looks like the wait might be even longer than expected. “Evidently, its release was expected to coincide with a summer full of shows… but things didn’t quite pan out that way, leaving Kevin [Parker] little time to continue working on it during this schedule,” reads a new Tame Impala feature on Huck. The interviewer notes that it was “suggested (politely)” that they not ask Kevin about the new album, though he did talk a little bit about why his process is so time-consuming…

You were once asked how you know when an album’s finished – and you answered, “When someone says, ‘Time’s up.’” You’ve reached a point where no one’s going to force your hand. Do you think you could make an album forever?

Yeah, very easily – and that is a danger. The more power and control I have over the music, the more freedom and respect I’m given by my record label, then the more I don’t have them going like, ‘Right, you’ve got to fucking finish this.’ So that is an issue.

Well, Kanye started tweaking and revising his album digitally even after it was released. Could you see yourself doing that?

It’s dangerous. When I first heard that he’d done that, I just went, ‘Oh, no! That’s gonna be me.’ When [new single] ‘Patience’ came out, I can’t tell you the number of things I wanted to change. I held myself back… well, actually, I didn’t. I asked if we could [make changes]… so that’s deadly. But at the same time – and this is me enabling myself even more – the way we release music has changed so much. What’s inherently wrong with an artist changing a song after it’s been released? Are there rules that we’re not able to look past because we’re stuck in our ways? What if releasing a song was fluid? What if there wasn’t this set period of time when an artist works on a piece of art and they pick a day to share it with the world and it can’t be changed after that?

Well, people get attached to one version.

That is true. That’s a very good point. If Da Vinci kept changing the Mona Lisa, everybody would’ve been like, ‘Dude, just stop!’

You can read more here.

Tame Impala’s tour schedule is very busy from now through the end of the summer — including two MSG shows, Lollapalooza, ACL, and more — so if Kevin still isn’t done working on the new album, it looks like he may not be able to return to it until the fall. Stay tuned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpbblMR_jUo

Tame Impala — 2019 Tour Dates (EU date format)
19/07/2019 — Splendour in the Grass – Byron Bay
26/07/2019 — Budweiser Stage – Toronto
28/07/2019 — Mo Pop – Detroit
30/07/2019 — Surly Brewing – Minneapolis
31/07/2019 — Surly Brewing – Minneapolis
02/08/2019 — Lollapalooza – Chicago
04/08/2019 — Osheaga – Montréal
08/08/2019 — Oya – Oslo
10/08/2019 — Flow – Helsinki
13/08/2019 — Kindl-Bühne Wuhlheide – Berlin
15/08/2019 — La Route Du Rock – Rennes
17/08/2019 — Pukkelpop – Hasselt
18/08/2019 — Lowlands – Flevoland
21/08/2019 — Madison Square Garden – New York
22/08/2019 — Madison Square Garden – New York
23/08/2019 — The Mann – Philadelphia
24/08/2019 — The Anthem – Washington
25/08/2019 — The Anthem – Washington
04/10/2019 — ACL Festival – Austin
11/10/2019 — ACL Festival – Austin

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