© 2026 NPR Illinois
For your right to be curious.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
NPR Illinois is seeking a full-time multimedia journalist to co-host/produce/edit/report for a new daily, regional radio news hour with Sean Crawford. Click to apply.

Tame Impala Releases A Decadent New Song, 'Borderline'

Tame Impala's really committing to its new, lustrous yacht-rock sound with its latest single. The song, "Borderline," comes just before the band's Coachella appearance this weekend, and seems aimed directly at festive masses hell-bent on vibing in the sand and heat.

A Madonna cover this is not. "We're on the borderline / Caught between the tides of pain and rapture," Parker sighs of a pairing in severely dire straits. The sound is almost bacchanalian, suited for luxury and extravagance — with a harpsichord, a reedy breakdown and the conga drums we last heard on "Patience." There's a little bit more familiar, psych-y weirdness here, with Parker's voice stretched out like taffy, wrapped around the song's sweet excesses.

"Borderline" originally debuted on the band's Saturday Night Live appearance at the end of March. Still no word on a full-length album, though.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.