For half a decade, fans have been wondering what Kevin Parker, the creator and leader of Tame Impala, has been doing behind the scenes. Following the success of their Grammy-nominated The Slow Rush in the 2020s, Tame Impala seemed to vanish, only to re-emerge through a series of high-profile collaborations. Now, the wait is over as Parker has confirmed the release of his newest creation via Columbia Records on October 17, and the new album, Deadbeat, is officially on the way.
For the past five years, since the release of The Slow Rush, Tame Impala has collaborated with various artists. Notable collaborations include “Houdini” with Dua Lipa, “Neverender” with Justice (which won a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Recording), and contributed to “Journey to the Real World” for the Barbie movie.
Deadbeat will contain 12 songs, with two singles already out, “End of Summer” and “Loser”. The first was released on July 25, 2025, described as a seven-minute dance track inspired by acid house, an electronic dance music subgenre that originated in Chicago in the mid-1980s, characterized by its repetitive, hypnotic beats. The latter, “Loser”, released on September 3, 2025, has a more subdued tone.
The album is heavily inspired by Western Australia’s “bush doof” rave culture, a subculture centered around large, remote, outdoor electronic dance music (EDM) parties held in bushland settings. The sound has been described by marketing sites as “club-psych explorations” and a “future primitive rave act.” This suggests a more electronic and dance-oriented direction, moving away from the psychedelic rock of earlier albums.
“I feel like Tame Impala in general has a very distinct sound to it. You can always recognize that it’s him. But as for this album specifically, it feels a little less psychedelic,” said junior Rohan Goyal. [The sound] is less ‘swirly’… It feels a little more experimental.”
From what we know, the lyrics in this album are said to be more direct and self-deprecating, focusing on themes of “self-sabotage” and “negative feedback loops.” The album’s title, Deadbeat, is a reflection of this feeling of being an “inferior human” or someone who can’t get their “sh*t together,” but surprisingly, the album cover is a personal photo of Kevin Parker hugging his daughter, Peach. Parker has stated that his daughter “just sort of ran onto the set randomly,” and the photo ended up being a perfect fit, despite its title, for the “intriguing” and “uncertain” energy of the album.
A U.S. tour has also been announced in support of the album, kicking off on Halloween at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Fans can go to the official Tame Impala website for ticket information. The album is also available for pre-order in various formats, including webstore-exclusive vinyl variants, an Urban Outfitters exclusive color vinyl, and limited-edition numbered cassettes. Five years is a long time to wait, but based on the singles and Parker’s new creative direction, the holdout for Deadbeat was well worth it.
“In general, as someone who is kind of dabbling in music production, I have a lot of respect for Kevin… how he kind of changes the way he goes about everything in his process from like recording to producing… So I think it’s just cool to see him do something different every time he makes a song,” said Goyal.
All signs point to an album that is both a return to form and a daring leap forward, proving once again that Kevin Parker is in a lane of his own. Mark your calendars for October 17, 2025.
