When Tame Impala performs live, what fans see on stage is not indicative of how Tame Impala albums are made. While Kevin Parker is joined on the road by a touring band, in the studio, he is by himself, playing all the instruments on his own.
Meanwhile, nowadays, it’s hard for full bands to get together and perform thanks to the ongoing pandemic. So, when Parker performed on The Late Show last night, he did what he does best by playing all the instruments himself for a performance of The Slow Rush track “Is It True.”
He pulled this off by recording his instrumental parts separately and combining the footage in a split-screen format, so there were three versions of Parker on screen at once. The result is an example of how at-home performances don’t have to be as simple as strumming an acoustic guitar in a bedroom, that there’s real room for creativity in this format, even in ways that aren’t possible with a traditional late-night performance.
That said, Parker has also given a more standard at-home performance. Last month, he participated in a charity livestream, on which he sat on his couch, grabbed an acoustic guitar, and performed “On Track.”
Watch Tame Impala perform “Is It True” above.
