HomeTame ImpalaLonerism
Lonerism
Rock · 2012 · 18 tracks · 1h 16m

Lonerism

A masterpiece of isolation wrapped in blown-out analog warmth, where swirling synthesizers and heavy, compressed drums cushion the sting of social anxiety.

Find on Amazon

Critical peak

Blown-out analog synthesizers bubble like hot oil beneath a canopy of heavy, compressed drums, transforming the sting of social anxiety into a towering, widescreen sanctuary. This is the moment bedroom-pop isolation was perfected into a colossal, stadium-sized architecture, proving that the deepest introversion could sound absolutely massive. By wrapping fragile, solitary anxieties in thick layers of technicolor psychedelia, the record redefined the boundaries of modern indie rock. It invites you to lose yourself in a dazzling, sun-drenched haze where loneliness no longer feels like a cage, but rather a shared, glorious universe of sound.

Lonerism · vs · Tame Impala
Lonely+3.8σ

The record introduces a signature sense of being lonely to the catalog, wrapping the ache of isolation in brilliant, sun-drenched melodies that make solo dancing feel like a triumphant act.

Tracklist · 18 Tracks · 1h 16m
01
Be Above It
3:21
01
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
3:13
02
Keep On Lying
5:54
02
Endors Toi
3:06
03
Elephant
3:31
03
Apocalypse Dreams
5:56
04
She Just Won’t Believe Me
0:57
04
Mind Mischief
4:31
05
Music to Walk Home By
5:12
05
Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control
6:01
06
Sun’s Coming Up
5:20
06
Why Won’t They Talk to Me?
4:46
07
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
3:13
08
Keep On Lying
5:54
09
Elephant
3:31
10
She Just Won’t Believe Me
0:57
11
Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control
6:01
12
Sun’s Coming Up
5:20
Moments Worth Waiting For
01Be Above ItThe driving, repetitive drum loop on 'Be Above It' acts as a hypnotic, rhythmic spine that anchors the song's swirling vocal layers.
04Mind MischiefA sudden, heavy bassline drop on 'Mind Mischief' shifts the track from a loose guitar groove into a highly compressed, physical psych-soul strut.
The recording features a guitar take tracked in Vienna and a vocal take captured on an airplane from Singapore to London.
06Sun’s Coming UpOn 'Sun’s Coming Up', the album's dense electronic production suddenly strips back to a solitary, echoing piano ballad that drifts into ambient guitar noise.
Sits BesideSee all
Innerspeaker
Innerspeaker
Tame Impala
2010

Shares lonely, dream pop, psychedelic rock, dreamy (mood)

Parallax
Parallax
Atlas Sound
2011

Shares lonely, dream pop, psychedelic rock, dreamy (mood)

Wincing the Night Away
Wincing the Night Away
The Shins
2007

Shares keys/synth, vocal_layering, psychedelic rock, anxious (signature)

Wondrous Bughouse
Wondrous Bughouse
Youth Lagoon
2013

Shares dream pop, psychedelic rock, anxious, dreamy (subgenre)

The Waterfall II
The Waterfall II
My Morning Jacket
2020

Shares psychedelic rock, dreamy, art pop, indie rock (subgenre)

Apoptosis
Apoptosis
Inner Wave
2021

Shares dream pop, psychedelic rock, dreamy, indie rock (subgenre)

Conductor
Conductor
The Comas
2004

Shares dream pop, psychedelic rock, dreamy, indie rock (subgenre)

There’s a Riot Going On
There’s a Riot Going On
Yo La Tengo
2018

Shares dream pop, psychedelic rock, dreamy, art pop (subgenre)

Pan
Pan
The Holydrug Couple
2022

Shares dream pop, psychedelic rock, dreamy, art pop (subgenre)

Lost in the Dream
Lost in the Dream
The War on Drugs
2014

Shares dream pop, psychedelic rock, anxious, indie rock (subgenre)

Reviews
Critic Consensus

Critics warmly received the album as a beautifully cohesive evolution from the project's debut, widely praising its rich blend of vintage pop melodies, psychedelic atmospheres, and electronic production techniques. Reviewers also embraced the record's gentle, dreamlike exploration of solitude, admiring how its home-crafted production captured a remarkably vivid warmth.

Consequence of Sound
“With their debut, Tame Impala crafted a record that burrowed into you and filled that space with a smorgasboard of redshifting sound palettes. It’s only the best moments on Lonerism that do the same”
Read review
Spin8/ 10
“For all the alienation implied by the album’s continually warping and waving center of gravity, there are colors here brighter than a child’s watercolor rainbow”
Read review
Paste
“Expertly balances heady textures with effortless melodicism”
Read review
The A.V. ClubA-
“Where the debut broke its sound into episodic chunks, Tame Impala now finds a singular sound in the cross-section of timeless pop and psychedelia”
Read review
Drowned in Sound
“A record that will undoubtedly be used as a benchmark for guitar music of the near future”
Read review
Pitchfork9.0/ 10
“Lonerism’s genius manifests itself in Tame Impala’s ability to figure out a way to integrate the concepts of electronic music-making as a visceral, classically-indebted power trio”
Read review
PopMatters
“Slyly infectious”
Under the Radar
“Lonerism isn’t Innerspeaker—it’s too damned lonely. But it’s cut from the same cloth, finding deeper substance in the same ecstatic patchwork”
Read review
NME9/ 10
“A luscious, floaty ode to solitary life”
Read review
The Quietus
“A progressive, accessible album that could take Tame Impala to the next level, or the mainstream, whichever comes first”
Read review
AllMusic5/ 5 stars
“One of the most impressive albums of the home-recording era”
Read review
The Independent
“Tame Impala are the sound of brave new worlds and sunlit uplands, and Lonerism is an album which seems to float four feet above the ground”
Read review

Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →