Why is my porch in desperate need of a paint job? Why is my lawn left uncut? Why are last night’s dirty dishes still in the sink? Because I am a daydreamer and would prefer to spend my free time listening to Tame Impala and gazing at the trees above. Because this was my view about an hour ago. I loved it so much I had to take a picture, come back home, sit down at my MacBook, and tell you about it.

After dropping my son off at the birthday party for his friend, I did a little straightening, watched about five minutes of football, which is all I can stand on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and went for a walk downtown. The normally brownish water of the Kennebec was blue in the sun. Colors were just beginning to come out on the trees. I went to my hometown department store and bought a pair of cheap sunglasses. The “Elwood” model; knock-off tortoise-shell Ray-Bans. $12.99.

I walked down to the waterfront park and noticed the city fathers and mothers had installed some rustic Adirondack chairs on the small hills overlooking the river. I sat down, but was chilled by the shade I was in. I got up, found a sunny spot, and stretched out.

Tame Impala’s newish second album Lonerism played in my earbuds. Kevin Parker, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist behind the band, sounds like he got on the Magical Mystery tour bus, was dropped off at Strawberry Fields as a baby, and never got picked up. Sonically, Tame Impala’s music is a shimmery, sunshiny haze of buried vocals, overdubbed wah-wah guitars and muted, fuzzed-out drums. Perfect for a day of not painting the porch. And that’s just what you should expect from a band that looks like this.

That’s Kevin on far right. With the hair. These lads are not painting any porches today.

Just yesterday, I was driving down a twisty Maine backroad deep in the woods, on the way to my part-time weekend job. TI’s first album, Innerspeaker, was playing on my car stereo. I was a few songs into the CD and suddenly, I smiled. In my car, alone, listening to some psychedelic music by an Aussie twenty-something on a gorgeous Saturday morning.  At the moment I thought of my answer if anyone asked me why I like this music. Because it makes me smile when I’m alone in my car, I would have said. And that’s enough.