Tame Impala: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space.

Bobby Carter | August 24, 2020
With beats, effects and synths pumping through a DJ mixer sitting on a school desk in his home studio in Australia, we present Tame Impala like you've never heard it before. As much as I love Tame Impala's music, I'm probably more intrigued by the creative process that brings the songs to life. The studio version of the band is pretty simple on paper: All songs are written, produced and performed by Kevin Parker. For the live version, Parker is still front and center but surrounded by a host of musicians who interpret his recorded work almost to a tee.

So it came as a shock to me when the Australian maestro explained what he wanted to do for his Tiny Desk (home) concert or his "Tame Impala Soundsystem" as he puts it. "I'll get Jay (Watson) and Dom (Simper) and we'll do this kind of electronic jam with heaps of equipment around us and we'll recreate the songs with samplers and sequencers," Parker says. "I've wanted to do something like this for a while and thought Tiny Desk would be the opportunity to do it."

SET LIST
"Breathe Deeper"
"Is It True"
"Patience"

MUSICIANS
Kevin Parker: vocals; Jay Watson: music; Dom Simper: music

CREDITS
Video by: Jamie Terry, Shiney Joe Ryan; Audio by: Kevin Parker, James Ireland; Producer: Bobby Carter; Audio Mastering Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Video Producer: Maia Stern; Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey; Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann