17/04/2026

LYFE FRIDAY | APR 17, 2026

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ALBUM REVIEW

Ű BY AMEEN HAZIZI

S TEPHEN Bruner, better known as Thundercat, has returned with Distracted , an album that delivers exactly what you expect from him – for better and for worse. This is a pure funk and hip-hop album built around his bass. Everything bends around it. The grooves are tight, the tone is warm and he still plays like someone operating on a different level. That part is easy to like. It is why he has always been such a reliable feature artiste, whether it is Gorillaz, Kendrick Lamar, A$ap Rocky or Bruno Mars. He adds funk and colour without crowding the track. But when an entire album leans this heavily into one sound, it starts to blur. Cool factor still intact Part of why Thundercat works is simple – he is just cool. The hair, the clothes, the way he plays, the way he sings. Even the way he moves between collaborators, from hip-hop to pop to something like Yo Gabba Gabba !, without it feeling out of place. There is a layer of confidence in everything he does, including when he is clearly messing around. If that was all there was, it might get tiring. But he balances it with something else. There is always a slightly awkward, romantic side underneath it. Someone who is still figuring things out. Distracted leans into that more than it first lets on. Highs hit hard The standout tracks are the ones that stretch the formula. No More Lies with Tame Impala starts as a Thundercat track before flipping into something closer to a Currents or The Slow Rush -style groove. That shift gives it space to

Funk overload on Thundercat’s Distracted o Album offers some good highs but struggles with variety Thundercat (right) continues his long-running creative relationship with Miller (left) through this release.

Nerd references, but it works There are a lot of references scattered throughout, especially to Star Wars . Anakin Learns His Fate stands out, and it is hard not to read it alongside Thundercat’s cameo in The Book of Boba Fett , where he showed up as a cyborg surgeon. It is not subtle, but it does not need to be. Another bassist, Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers, also crossed into Star Wars through the Kenobi series, which makes the connection even more amusing. These kinds of details could feel forced with someone else. Here, they just feel natural. This is what he is into. Underneath all that, it is a breakup album. For all the funk and humour, this is basically a heartbreak record. The early stretch deals with messy relationships and tension between friends. Later on, it turns inward. Anxiety, insecurity, the feeling of not quite having things together. By the end, there is a sense of acceptance, even if it is not clean or resolved. That emotional thread is what holds the album together when the sound starts to repeat. Hard to top the last one Comparisons to It Is What It Is are unavoidable. That album felt sharper and more varied. Distracted feels more locked into one sound. It is cohesive, but also narrower. There is a sense that while the album is focused, too many tracks sit in the same mid-tempo space. Final take Distracted is a good Thundercat album, just not one of his best. The highs are genuinely strong. The collaborations land. The personality is still there. But over a full listen, the lack of variation starts to show. Still, if you like Thundercat, this gives you exactly what you came for – just in a slightly more concentrated form.

breathe. It is not stuck in one lane. She Knows Too Much with Mac Miller lands for a different reason. Hearing Miller again feels surreal in a good way. It does not sound like a posthumous patch job. He still sounds present, still sounds relevant. For a moment, it is easy to forget he sadly passed in 2018. The chemistry carries the track. It feels like two friends picking up where they left off.

Lots of funk, maybe too much The rest of the album leans hard into funk. Maybe too hard. Track after track sits in a similar pocket. Mid-tempo grooves, falsetto vocals, the same elastic bass tone. It sounds great at first, but over time, it becomes almost homogeneous. You

The album blends funk, hip-hop and R&B across a 46-minute runtime. – ALL PICS FROM INSTAGRAM @THUNDERCATMUSIC

Thundercat is known for his high-pitched

within that same overall feel. It is funky, just in a slightly different way. That consistency is part of the identity, but it also limits the range.

notice the playing, but the songs themselves start to blend together. Even the Flying Lotus collaboration, which brings faster, more chaotic production, still sits

falsetto vocal style and his mastery of the bass guitar.