The recently released track ‘Lost In Yesterday’ by the Australian psychedelic inspired group Tame Impala is set to be the last teaser of the highly anticipated fourth studio album The Slow Rush. The delayed album is set to have 12 tracks and comes months after the unveiling of other songs ‘Borderline’, ‘Posthumous Forgiveness’ and ‘It Might Be Time’. When questioned about the hold up, frontman Kevin Parker stated that his creative process is not something which can be rushed as: “part of the thing about me starting an album is that I have to feel kind of worthless again to want to make music,”. Set to be released on Valentine’s Day (14th February) 2020, their new album comes 5 years after their universally acclaimed last album, Currents. 

Parker’s distinct voice weaves a narrative of  contrasting memories

The vibrant artwork of ‘Lost in Yesterday’ sets the tone for the nostalgic lyrics throughout; the depiction of multiple sand dunes not only gives the impression that the social construct of time is fleeting like an hourglass but it also casts your mind back to an idyllic day at the beach. Parker’s distinct voice weaves a narrative of  contrasting memories, some pleasant and others worthy of forgetting, against a backdrop of an upbeat disco melody. Before delving further into the lyrics, you would be forgiven if you placed it straight into your upbeat playlist on Spotify. The song fits the recently rising epidemic of the phrase ‘new year, new me’. 

The lyrics implore listeners to embrace the future. Implicitly the song states that whilst it is perfectly natural to look back on the past nostalgically, it is not healthy to hold onto bad memories: “so if they call you embrace them, if they hold you erase them.” With references to Groundhog Day, a movie in which a man is stuck and forced to relive the same day repeatedly, Parker is linking in similar themes of grief from the devastating loss of his father, mentioned in their previous track ‘Posthumous Forgiveness’. Lastly, the theme of positivity and looking forward to the future is explored in allusion to Snakes and Ladders; Parker makes the game a metaphor for life. ‘Snakes’ are the negative points in life which need to be overcome and ‘ladders’ are the intense spurts of growth and opportunity. 

‘Lost in Yesterday’ is available now via Modular Recordings Pty Ltd