Like printing a clashfinder and throwing it into the nearest bin the second a festival starts, it’s impossible to be prepared for a summer of music.  You just have to watch the tides turn and go with it.  School all you like and hypothesise at will, but songs of the summer appear out of nowhere.  Nobody saw OMI’s ‘Cheerleader’ creeping around the corner this time last year, and chances are 2016’s choice is still waiting in the wings (we’re looking at you, Chas & Dave - now’s your time). 

But it’s around this time of year when the real winners of summer - however abstract that might sound, it exists, honest - show their faces.  Festival bills have almost completely taken shape.  Certain songs are being given repeat plays.  And at this point in 2016, everything points to one band. 

Of late, Tame Impala haven’t had to do all that much to pick up the plaudits.  They did all the hard work in 2015, by releasing peerless third LP ‘Currents’, a sonic shift and slowburner that’s still working its magic. 

In the past couple of months, their fortunes have taken a surreal turn.  Winning Best International Group at the BRITs was one thing.  Getting Rihanna to reinterpret ‘Currents’’ gloomy closing track was quite another.  It’s not like Kevin Parker’s been immune to the spotlight up to now - collaborations with Mark Ronson gave hints of someone willing to dive deep into the pop world.  But music’s big leaguers have these Aussies on edge of their lips. 

There’s no official word on whether a rumoured Lady Gaga collaboration will ever surface, but that this is even being spoken about is pretty nuts.  Parker recently told BBC Newsbeat he’d “fantastise” about working with other people. “[ It’s] this foreign thing to me but something I would love to do more [collaborations],” he said.