Kevin Parker has made good on his promise to release new Tame Impala, delivering a new single as the ostensible first taste of a forthcoming LP.
Dubbed “End of Summer,” the seven-minute track arrives as Tame Impala’s first release via their new home at Columbia Records. While its release is transitional, so too is its sound, with Parker leaning on the history of dance music to recast the project as “kind of future primitive rave act,” per a press release.
While prominently featuring Parker’s trademark vocals, “End of Summer” is an undeniable shift from the main focus of previous Tame Impala records, though serves as something of a logical evolution of what had been teased thanks to the disco elements of 2015’s Currents and 2020’s The Slow Rush.
The release of the track also comes accompanied by a Julian Klincewicz-directed visual, which pairs rapid-fire images with grainy footage of Parker both performing the track and in various locations.
Parker first previewed “End of Summer” during a surprise DJ set in Barcelona’s Nitsa Club in early June. “You guys want to hear a new song? “You want to hear a new Tame Impala song?” he asked the crowd. “You’re going to be the first ones to hear it, you realize? There’s no going back from this point on, you realize?”
Earlier in July, Parker also shared a series of photos to Instagram in which he teased a forthcoming album. Soon after, an untitled 12″ vinyl record was added to the Tame Impala web store which promptly sold out.
Though press materials don’t describe “End of Summer” as a preview of Tame Impala’s fifth album, Parker’s recent Instagram post features a whiteboard filled with album tracks, including one which appears to be “End of Summer.”
In the time since 2020’s The Slow Rush, Parker has been busy with myriad other projects. In 2023, second album Lonerism would receive a tenth anniversary reissue, and would be followed by the release of the track “Journey to the Real World” for the Barbie soundtrack.
Additionally, Tame Impala would also be credited with remixes of songs from Crowded House and Elvis Presley, and would appear as a guest artist on cuts from Diana Ross and Gorillaz.
In 2024, Parker would serve as a producer and guest musician for Dua Lipa‘s Radical Optimism album, and would also serve as a guest artist on two tracks from French outfit Justice‘s Hyperdrama album. One of those collaborations, “Neverender,” would see Parker win his first Grammy for best dance/electronic recording in 2025.
Most recently, Justice also announced a series of Australian tour dates for December 2025, with a Tame Impala DJ set listed as the main support alongside Busy P.
See the video for Tame Impala’s “End of Summer” below.
