Why Kevin Parker buried his ARIA in the backyard
Hype around Tame Impala’s fourth album has hit fever pitch, with the latest record from Kevin Parker’s band just days away.
The lauded Aussie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist caught up with Zane Lowe of Beats 1 ahead of the release.
The pair reminisce about Tame Impala’s early records, with Parker revealing the processes behind recording them and what he’s learnt along the way.
He reveals that working with Mark Ronson was a revelation because he’d “never really worked with other people before,” and learnt a lot from Ronson’s approach to collaboration.
“I was kind of like his understudy in that way. He is able to say what he wants without sounding arrogant.”
During the chat, Lowe gets to the bottom of a rumour he’d heard about one of Parker’s ARIAs.
“Is it true you got high on mushrooms and buried all ARIA’s in the backyard?” he asks, after which Parker confirmed a singular ARIA had indeed been buried.
“Did you dig it up? It’s still there?” says Lowe.
Parker responds; “The whole idea is that it’ll be there until the end of time or aliens coming down in like 200 years.
“I like to think of how it’ll get dug up because that’s kind of like… At what point is this thing going to see the light of day again?
“… my albums have gradually gotten more and more personal because I’ve gradually gotten more confidence about what I want to say,” says Parker. “The reward was so great, so addictive.”
With The Slow Rush out this Friday, the latest Tame Impala record is set to be available on Spotify as an “enhanced album experience”, allowing fans to access unreleased audio and video content from Parker’s Fremantle studio.
The majority of content was filmed on 16mm film by collaborator Krisofski, with locations including Parker’s studio and nearby areas.
The content will be exclusive to Spotify, and will go behind the process and Parker’s working environment, as well as personal commentary and audio interludes.