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Tame Impala Flashes ‘Backwards’ in Hallucinogenic Animated Video

Tame Impala "Feels Like We Only Go Backward" video

Psychedelics — siiiike! — are a psyche-out for Kevin Parker. True to its title, the Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist’s SPIN Essential second album as Tame Impala, Lonerism, explores emotional states more than altered ones, feelings rather than pharmaceuticals. Even swaggering first single “Elephant,” a character study about the macho bloke Parker clearly thinks he isn’t, ends in tears. Fellow album standout “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” uses its loping Spacehog bass line and psych-soaked guitar swirls to turn wimpy lovesickness into instant bliss. Directed by Joe Pelling and Becky Sloan, the song’s new video is a wonderfully animated one that continues the trippy theme of the “Elephant” clip. And yet it works so well not because it triggers acid flashbacks, but because it awakens wistful emotions subconsciously associated with ’70s-era Sesame Street cartoons. Okay, so Big Bird might be safe now, but “forward” remains easier said than actually done.