Tame Impala, a rock band from Australia, renders eerie pop tunes reminiscent of a trance in its second and most recent album, “Lonerism.” The album features a unique genre of music known as psychedelic rock. Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music characterized by a heavy use of recording techniques that attempts to replicate the effects of psychedelic hallucinogenic drugs. Psychedelic rock reached its peak of popularity in the 1960s after music icons such as the Beatles and the Jimi Hendrix Experience implemented it in their discographies. Tame Impala’s “Lonerism” is much more than a simple revival record. Released on October 5, 2012, “Lonerism” is Tame Impala’s second album following their well-received 2010 debut album, “Innerspeaker.” The group is comprised of vocalist, guitarist and producer Kevin Parker and multi-instrumentalists Jay Watson and Dominic Simper. The album’s swirling guitar effects captures the sounds of 90’s shoegaze, 70’s progressive rock and most importantly, 60’s psychedelic rock. As one of Tame Impala’s strongest musical influences, the psychedelia of the 1960’s can be heard through the album’s rich and bright melodies. The way the the notes seem to drift harmoniously throughout songs breaks the stereotype of the psychedelic genre’s dazed-sounding tunes. As indicated by its title, “Lonerism” centers on themes of solitude, isolation and helplessness. Contrast is prominent in “Lonerism.” Compared to the dominant acoustics, the vocals sound like an afterthought, not prominent at all. As a result, the lyrics often seem incoherent and deceptively dark when compared with the cheerful background music. Utilizing upbeat music to emphasize loneliness, “Keep On Lying” contains a sample of a crowd of people talking, leaving the impression that the singer is outside of the group’s conversation. Out of all the songs in the album, “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” has one of the strongest and most distinct melodies for listeners. Steeped in heavily layered psychedelic production, the pop song has an immediately infectious starting tune and elegant swirling sounds. Stretching on for over six minutes, “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control” is also one of the most fascinating pieces in “Lonerism.” Various cascading sounds form a string of several distinctive parts, each more interesting and intense than the previous. The final track, “Sun’s Coming Up,” is a surprise after forty-five minutes of psychedelic frenzy, as it is the only track that grazes the concept of minimalism and slowness. However because of its lethargic feeling, “Sun’s Coming Up” is the album’s weakest track. While it is an attempt at a mellow finale, the song ends up lacking an element of distinctiveness. When the guitar is introduced half-way through the song, it creates a feeling of anxiety towards something explosive. Instead, the guitar just ends up fading out. There are countless psychedelic albums to this day, but 50 years after the creation of the psychedelia genre, Tame Impala has managed to break original ground in the genre, a truly impressive feat.