Author: Amanda Taylor
Tame Impala’s Currents album intro song, “Let It Happen”, takes listeners on a journey of courage, surrender, overcoming, and most importantly, a journey of simply letting it happen.
Welcoming 2015 Album, Currents
Kevin Parker begins the first line of his third neo-psychedelic rock album, Currents, with the intriguing line, “It’s always around me, all this noise, but not nearly as loud as the voice saying, ‘let it happen, let it happen, its gonna feel so good’” Parker grapples with his ever-protruding distractions and suffocation of his urge to simply, “let it happen.” When I hear this initial, yet powerful line, I think of a quote from one of my favorite poets, Kahlil Gibran. “The lust for comfort murders the passions of the soul.” Humans long for a sense of control, a sense of autonomy over oneself. The lust to be comfortable and feeling secure in the absence of change is what suppresses our soul’s true longings and passions. “It’s gonna feel so good,” Parker concludes the line. While he recognizes that pleasure will be the result of just letting it unfold, the challenge he faces is finding the courage to break out of the comfortability and accept the forward movement.
Finding Courage
“This notion growing inside, now all the others seem shallow.” Nothing else seems to be heard of the voice reciting just “let it happen.” The voice urges to be listened to, to be heard and acted on.
“I can hear the alarm, it must be morning.” Only in his wildest dreams would he ever contemplate letting go and just letting it happen. After this line, the synths mute ever so slightly and the pronunciation of the following lines is made clear, “I can’t fight it much longer, something is trying to get out and it’s never been closer.” The song begins to shift and build exponentially.
Enduring the Uncomfortable
At about 2:40, the song begins to become an uncomfortable listen. There’s an edging guitar riff that sounds as if it has no near ending. The tune keeps rolling on, sounding as though it will never allude to anything. Just over a minute into the riff, minor breaks in the loop with what sounds to be dj slicing increments occur. The synths begin to mute and make room for the cinematic uproars that formulate, further edging the listener on.
I think the repetitiveness during this part of the song is powerful. The song perfectly imitates the feeling that something is inevitably approaching, while you feel your sense of control slip through your fingertips as you frantically attempt to prepare for the unknown.
I don’t think it would be absurd to say that I believe Kevin Parker entirely intended for the track to come across this way. When listening to the song, you have to surrender to the uncomfortable and endure the repetition as a part of the journey. Acceptance of that fact that in order to get to the incredible conclusion of the song, you must face the uncomfortable head on.
Before you know it, the song begins to emulate and evolve. You flow with the new sounds and are brought into a whole new worldly dimension of synths. At about five minutes into the eight-minute-long song, the build-up breaks. A soulful guitar riff breaks free. An explosion of electricity flows. The dramatic shift in song welcomes a new phase of life, a point of view after letting nature take its course. The change had been made and the song is almost entirely unrecognizable from the verses at the beginning of the track.
Overcoming
Nearing the final stretch of the song, Parker’s lyrics urge others to take the risk, “Take the next ticket, get the next train.” Do whatever you’ve been putting off and dreaming of doing. No better time than now. The line repeats for about a minute, signifying that he let go and let it happen.
Just after six minutes, another brilliant build up reaches its threshold and welcomes harmonizing synths. Overlapping the previous lines, “Now I’m ready, moving on” cries Kevin Parker, “oh, but maybe I was ready all along.”
This song takes listeners on the ultimate journey. I love a good album intro song and “Let It Happen” is an incredible one and sets the tone for the following pieces on Currents. Truly listen to this track, surrender to it, and let it happen.
Amanda Taylor | Newest Life Motto: Let It Happen | KXSU Music & Arts Reporter