Oh this one is messing with my head. Tame Impala makes such beautiful wooziness on their own and then this guy Chrome Canyon comes along and twists up their sound even further.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Ya’ll know these Impala dudes right? Well, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards was the moody centerpiece to their 2012 effort Lonerism, which was one of last year’s better full lengths. A lot of the cuts from that album are head-trips for broken hearted folks, the aforementioned track included. I know it’s cliché, but we’ve all been there, right? Another night in a string of nights alone and left to your own devices, you spend the evening swimming through your thoughts. Usually there’s a mopey or “emo”, depending on your age demographic, record on in the background. You shouldn’t be indulging these feelings, though at times there’s something addictive in wallowing in your own downer vibes. That kind of mood aided and abetted by the emotional undercurrent in a lot of Tame Impala’s songs, thanks in large part to singer/guitarist Kevin Parker’s I’m-a-time-traveler-from-the-1970s-how-will-I-return-home? voice. Sure, sure, these songs have soundtracked other kinds of altered states. All I’m saying is, this band writes sonic vistas and landscapes that be traversed by anyone, clear-eyed or otherwise.
Anyways. This “de-mix” by Morgan Z under his musical guise Chrome Canyon, is pretty dope. He mines the dazed and confused vibe of the original and warps it even further. I’m talking old cassette sitting on the dash in a hot car warp. Bright and hot with spots from sun damage, Feels Like We Only We Go Backwards (Chrome Canyon de-mix) is three minutes and twenty-one seconds of reeling sound that is just on the verge of unspooling. In other words, it’s not a bummer. Quite the opposite, actually.
The drums have been turned up in the mix and the distortion is mortaring my earholes. The vintage organs are swirling all over the place and, as they still retain the same rainbow shimmer from the original cut, the effect is kaleidoscopic. Some newfangled keyboard chords occasionally pierce the haze but their quick entry and decay keeps things off kilter. That interjecting gong is a nice touch too.
Sway to this.
Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (Chrome Canyons de-mix)