Tame Impala "Currents" Cover Art Review

Tom:

         

Tame Impala is a psychedelic pop/rock band from Perth, Australia. Their record "Currents" was released in 2015, and brought them into the mainstream lime-light. They released two LPs before this, but for most people this is their introduction to Tame Impala.



At first glance the record is already appealing. The Artist, Robert Beatty, is popular for his cover art designs and it is obvious why. They are FANTASTIC. If you have any extra time I suggest you check out his other work here.

I really like the colors he used for this. The pink and orange are contrasting with the purple, but in a way that brings all the colors together. The silver sphere is the coolest part. The rest of the design is pretty two dimensional, so the sphere really adds some depth. I also like how it is silver, and not another color. It stands out, but in a subtle way which makes for a successful focal point. I also like how it is disrupting the purple around it. It looks like it is moving through some kind of liquid from an 80's sci-fi film. All and all the design is very successful and makes a great first impression for the record.

Ray:

This art cover looks like a mix between surrealism, trippy art, and an old timey feel. I think this album cover suffers greatly from putting too much into one cover. A lot of the elements to me seem like they clash with one another rather than working with each other. I think where the art work falls apart is where the black lines turn into currents. I don’t think the water effect and the black lines work together. It just comes across as a gross polluted river to me.

I am not a fan of black and white lines really close together. That design choice always gives me headaches, and it still does with this album cover. It just makes it really hard to look at.

The fuzzy effect in the corner does not mix well with the stripes. The stripes do not fade out well, and it looks like they put a blur in the top right corner. The thing that bothers me the most is why the red river turns yellow at the bottom. There is no apparent reason to why it turns yellow. It just does. Adding the yellow was a poor choice because they added another element to an already busy painting. I think it would’ve been more effective if it just stayed red.

Each element is completely unique to itself. The shiny metal ball does not look like it belongs in a 2D river of black and white stripes. The red to yellow is a really jarring transition. The black and white stripes did not fade out well like they intended it to.

The artist went for the effect of making things standout, but he did it too much. So instead of focusing on certain elements standout, it all looks like they all are mismatched. So as a whole, I do not think that the cover looks good together. It looks more like a bunch of elements fighting with each other.

Overall, I really do not like this design. I think it tried to be something different but went overboard with it.