Tame Impala have discussed their forthcoming third album at length, describing the second track released from the record, ”Cause I’m A Man’ as a song “about how weak men are”.

In an interview with Under The Radar, frontman Kevin Parker explains the meaning behind the track, which was revealed at the start of this month (April 5).

“Lyrically I’m not usually that out there and straight up saying things, but it’s meant to be really tongue-in-cheek at the same time. The song is about how weak men are, basically, and how we make all these excuses but really we’re just these odorous male members of the animal kingdom. We don’t have any self-control and are pathetic, basically. Again, that was probably a bad description of the song, but I guess I’ll let people figure it out for themselves.”


“When I say it’s tongue-in-cheek, I’m not saying it’s insincere. The apology is sincere, but the excuse of saying, ‘Oh, it’s because I’m a man’ is the tongue-in-cheek bit. I hope people don’t see it as sexist in any way. That would upset me, but I wouldn’t put it past people to interpret it like that because people have wack interpretations of things sometimes.”

The track will feature on the band’s third album, ‘Currents’, the follow-up to 2012’s ‘Lonerism.’ As reported by Stereogum, Parker explained that ‘Currents’ is about the process of personal transformation.

“It follows the progression of someone feeling like they are becoming something else. They’re becoming the kind of person they thought they’d never become.”

“This is meant to tell the story from the inside, like what’s going on in their head and why they’re seeing things differently and feeling like they go somewhere else mentally.”

Speaking of the first track revealed from the album ‘Let It Happen’ – which the band performed live on Conan this week (April 16) – Parker said:

“For me, [the song is about] finding yourself always in this world of chaos and all this stuff going on around you and always shutting it out because you don’t want to be part of it. But at some point, you realise it takes more energy to shut it out than it does to let it happen and be a part of it.”


He went on to describe unheard tracks from the record.

Break-up song ‘Eventually’ is about “knowing that you’re about to damage someone almost irreparably, and the only consolation you get is this distant hope that they’ll be alright eventually, because you know they aren’t going to be now or soon.”

While ‘Yes I’m Changing’ is a track he can’t remember making. “A weird experience, because it was like it was someone else made the song. I had no memory of imagining it.”

Finally, there is ‘Less I Know The Better’, which Parker claimed “shouldn’t be on a Tame Impala album because it has this dorky, white disco funk”.

Tame Impala will play a handful of UK and Ireland dates later this year. They are as follows:

Electric Picnic Festival (September 4)

End Of The Road Festival (5)

Glasgow Barrowland (8)

Liverpool Olympia (9)

Bestival (10)

To check the availability of Tame Impala tickets and get all the latest listings, head to NME.COM/tickets.

