Thundercat’s ‘Distracted’ proves that his talent is only growing
Tame Impala, Mac Miller and WILLOW are among the artists featured on his most distinct album yet.
★★★★½
Photo: Press
Thundercat has been releasing bass-driven, jazz-influenced music for a number of years, and Distracted is no different in that sense. Announced in late January, anticipation has been gradually growing with the five singles released over the last few months, all of which hold up incredibly well on their own, but also work wonderfully with the other tracks on the album.
Distracted opens with Candlelight, one of the shortest songs from the album. Featuring those signature complex bass riffs, the track acts as the perfect transition from mundane reality into Thundercat’s almost dream-like vocal harmonies. The second half of the track is fully instrumental and is almost reminiscent of an interlude, before taking us directly into No More Lies.
Released all the way back in April 2023, No More Lies sees the ultimate collaboration of Tame Impala and Thundercat. I’m thrilled to see this on Distracted, as it’s been living in my headphones for the last three years on repeat, and it just never seems to get tired. Kevin Parker’s vocals mix so well on the chorus, and the breakdown of the instrumentals in the pre-chorus and outro, paired with Thundercat’s almost monologue-like chatter to fade us out of the track, just work so effectively together. I need an entire collaborative album with these two artists, as their styles just blend so perfectly.
From one incredible collaboration, we are swept straight into another. She Knows Too Much features one of Thundercat’s closest friends, the late Mac Miller. Once again, this was released as a single, and what a way to tease the album. The track begun it’s creation before Miller’s passing in 2018, and Thundercat got permission to finish the track and put it on Distracted. The song acts not only as a wonderful tribute but also as an incredible song. Miller does most of the vocal work on this track, with Thundercat adding ad-libs between his lines in the verses, and it comes off as just such a playful yet musically complex song. The jazz influence really comes through on this song, with the breakdown of brass instruments really elevating it, and it stands as one of my personal favourites on the album.
I Did This To Myself follows, featuring Lil Yachty and Flying Lotus. Another single released before the album seems to take on a slightly different angle from the rest of the tracklist, specifically Yachty’s verse. The first half takes on a bubbly and upbeat backing, along with Thundercat’s high-pitched vocals, but Yachty’s verse acts almost as a juxtaposition to this, with his low vocals and ad-libs contrasting the rest of the track.
Thundercat and A$AP Rocky seemed to have worked well together in the past, with even Thundercat featuring on Rocky’s SNL performance a few months ago, so it was no real surprise that on an album laden with features, A$AP Rocky would make an appearance on one of the tracks. Funny Friends is a slower tempo track, which almost acts as a come-down from the intensity of the opening of the album. Thundercat’s melodic voice just seems to work so excellently with rappers, and so I’m really glad to see he’s leaned into this on this project.
An even slower-paced track, What Is Left To Say, features The Lemon Twigs, and this has definitely grown on me. I think it’s easy to lose this song amongst the more upbeat tracks it’s nestled against in the album, but the beautiful harmonies and almost 60s-esque sound work surprisingly well.
Another previously released single, I Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time, opens with an almost underwater-like sound, created by the bass. The lyricism in this song really stands out to me: “You’ve gotta know the lines / To know just where to draw them”. Another song that gets better with each listen, and the backing alone stands out, just for the incredible instrumentation.
Anakin Learns His Fate takes an interesting turn vocally, as Thundercat seemingly slides up and down scales with his voice; again, the signature bass sound acts as the heart of the song, and in the almost minute-long instrumental segment at the end, we really get the chance to appreciate it.
Walking On The Moon is another standout for me. The vocals align with the bass perfectly, and this acts as such a beautiful love song. The melody gets you so hooked, and the space-aligned lyricism is so clever — a track that I think will go under the radar sadly, but deserves so much love.
Channel Tres joins Thundercat on This Thing We Call Love, and the funky backing had me from the very beginning. Thundercat has very few vocal parts on this track, but I think that it actually aids this song a lot, giving the listener something fresh and a little different before slamming us right back into his classic sound on his collaboration with WILLOW: Thunderwave.
Their two voices work together wonderfully, and the water-esque sound effects work surprisingly well. Layered over some beautiful instrumentals, it takes us right back to the chorus (“I want to swim forever”), and WILLOW proves on this track why she’s such an incredible vocalist (emphasised even further with her incredible new album Petal Rock Black).
Pozole takes on a very different approach, with such a tame backing track, using mainly keys just on their own, before the subtle bass notes kick in towards the end of the song — it acts as a refreshing sound, showing a kind of slowed sound we don’t typically see from Thundercat.
A.D.D Through The Roof is another favourite of mine, with a chorus so catchy it’s hard to stop yourself singing. This track reminds me a lot of Thundercat’s last album, It Is What It Is, and I genuinely believe that he’s mastered this sound and uses Distracted to perfect it.
Great Americans and You Left Without Saying Goodbye round off the album. Great Americans takes on an almost comedic approach, with Thundercat even meowing on the track (I suppose living up to his name), and the track takes us through him surviving a break-up. The latter song purely focuses on the vocals, layering some amazing harmonies and reminding us once again that not only is he an incredible bass player, but just an incredible musician on the whole.
Distracted is out now via Brainfeeder.
