Innerspeaker

Past Tame Impala releases were done by Kevin Parker purely for his own enjoyment. InnerSpeaker marks the first time Parker has "recorded something for an intended release. In the past just recorded a song, then done another two weeks later and eventually put them together." While Tame Impala tour as a band, it is Parker's personal music project in which he writes and records all the music to. Commenting on this, Parker said "Tame Impala is just one sliver of the giant amount of noise-making that we do as a circle of friends. I don't feel bad doing the recording by myself because I don't expect that input in their bands...to us Tame Impala is just Kevin Parker's project and everyone has a project" and "Tame Impala has always been a solo project. It has two halves: one half is the recording side which is very calculated and pieced together, and the other side is the live side, where we take what's been recorded and turn them into live songs." Parker has been recording music solo for a long time, as he explains "I’ve always recorded music. When I was 12, I used to set up two tape machines and multi-track myself. First, I’d record a beat on the drums, then, I’d play that tape into another tape recorder while playing keyboard; then I’d take that tape and play bass guitar along with the drums and keyboard. I’d keep adding instruments. I did that for a long time until my dad bought me an 8-track, and then I continued recording music by myself, even if I was in other bands at the same time." Parker's father "played a lot of music as a hobby" and was a "big influence" on Kevin.