"Sundown Syndrome" is the debut single by

Tame Impala Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker (musician), Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring a ...

, released as a single in 2009. Its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

was a cover of the Blue Boy song " Remember Me". The title "Sundown Syndrome" refers to a neurological phenomenon called

sundowning Sundowning, or sundown syndrome, is a neurological phenomenon wherein people with delirium or some form of dementia experience increased confusion and restlessness beginning in the late afternoon and early evening. It is most commonly associated ...

Composition

"Sundown Syndrome" was written by Kevin Parker in the key of E major in a mostly

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

. It is based around the repeating

chords Chord or chords may refer to: Art and music * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord, a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * The Chords (British band), 1970s British mod ...

of Fm7 and Gm7. The song begins in with the two above mentioned chords, while the drums are loose and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

y and have

flange A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim (wheel), rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase shear strength, strength (as the flange of a steel beam (structure), beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer o ...

added to them. It then changes to time with a looser

strum In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar, ukulele, or mandolin. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several strings to generate sound. On most stringed instrume ...

ming pattern. The verse comes soon after, with basic strums of the chords and occasional fills played on electric guitar. A

kazoo The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that modify the player's v ...

then comes in, which some people mistook for a fuzz guitar, to play a solo in the E major scale over the same Fm7, Gm7

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

. Another verse featuring the same previous structure, and another kazoo solo in the same E major scale return again. This gives way to a

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

using the barre chord progression of D major, G major, E major, B major, G major and D major. The chorus is in time, but switches to one

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

of at the end of every chord progression, and four bars of at the end of every chorus. Parker's vocals are heavily reverbed and delayed to give it a spacy atmosphere. A

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

in time comes next, with simple strums of the chords Fm7, Gm7, Fm7, A major and E major. A heavily phased, jazzy

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

using the E major scale comes in over the Fm7, Gm7 chord progression. The chorus comes back, and then a variation of the chorus barre chord progression on a phased guitar is played by itself, this time with just D major, G major and E major with occasional

glissando In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a wikt:glide, glide from one pitch (music), pitch to another (). It is an Italianized Musical terminology, musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In ...

slides between the chords. After a few bars of the guitar on its own, the chorus vocals come back over the top with occasional quiet bass fills. The chorus then comes back to its original form with the full band, and is extended longer than before. The song ends the way it started, in with the strumming of the Fm7 and Gm7 chords. A barred C major chord with guitar

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

completely ends the song.

Recording

Both "Sundown Syndrome" and "Remember Me" were recorded at

Toe Rag Studios Toe Rag Studios is an analogue recording studio located in Hackney, London, England. History The studio was founded in 1991 by Liam Watson and Josh Collins in the Shoreditch area of London. In 1997, the business relocated to Hackney due to ...

in London, UK with Liam Watson in March 2009. Parker later recalled "There was no-one really doing any producing, we just played undown Syndromehow it was destined to be played and then Liam recorded it and just did his thing. We just wanted to do the Toerag thing basically and it was a really awesome experience, the sound he gets at Toerag are amazing its like no other studio in the world both visually and sonically."

Release

"Sundown Syndrome" was later featured on the soundtrack for 2010 film '' The Kids Are All Right'' and was also included on the

Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publisher (popular music), music publishing busin ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

Chillout Sessions XII. "Sundown Syndrome" and "Remember Me" were later re-released on the deluxe edition of ''

Innerspeaker ''Innerspeaker'' (sometimes stylised as ''InnerSpeaker'') is the debut studio album by Australian musical project Tame Impala, released on 21 May 2010 by Modular Recordings. The album was recorded and produced by musician Kevin Parker at a remote ...

''. "Remember Me" came in at number 78 in the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2009.

Live performances

"Sundown Syndrome" was added to Tame Impala's

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

in 2009, and was played through 2010. In 2011, it was not performed as regularly. It was performed for the first time in several years at the Panorama festival in 2017. A performance of "Sundown Syndrome" was filmed for the 2009 Summer Sonic Festival, and a live version was later released on their live album '' Live at the Corner''. "Remember Me" has been performed as far back as 2008, and is still occasionally played . It was added to their set with the addition of Jay Watson on drums because the song fit his drumming style. In 2010, Tame Impala incorporated a quiet outro where Parker loops his vocals and experiments with effects while Dominic Simper plays

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

chords. Parker was an instant fan of the song when he saw a music video for it on Australian music television program ''

Rage Rage may refer to: * Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger Games * Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game * Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell * ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first- ...

'' at the age of 11.

Track listing

# "Sundown Syndrome" – 5:50 # "Remember Me" – 4:22 # "Sundown Syndrome (Canyons

Remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

)" – 7:47 (Digital release only track)

Personnel

* Kevin Parker – all vocals and instrumentation

References

External links

* {{Tame Impala 2009 songs 2009 debut singles Tame Impala songs Song recordings produced by Kevin Parker Songs written by Kevin Parker (musician)