Bassist Stephen Bruner, also known as Thundercat, has been the backbone of many musical acts of our day, featured on and playing on tracks by Justice, Suicidal Tendencies, Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala, HAIM and even Kanye West. After the devastating loss of his friend and collaborator, Mac Miller, he hadn’t put out much music aside from features and sporadic singles. His triumphant return after 2020’s “It Is What It Is” is a laid-back and spacey set of tracks on the ups and downs of love, loss and coming to terms with oneself.
The album opens with “Candlelight,” a hazy, trippy ode to the ephemeral nature of love, life and friendship, enjoying the light of a candle before its own expected sudden end. The next track, “No More Lies,” features past collaborator Tame Impala and speaks of the dangers of not only lies, but truths in relationships, admitting to their own faults in spoken word and in song.
“She Knows Too Much” posthumously features rapper Mac Miller pining for a woman outside of his league only to find that she’s a gold digger. This upbeat piece takes lyrics from Miller’s tracks “Eggs Aisle” and “Dang!” “I Did This to Myself” features Flying Lotus and rapper Lil Yachty in an unusually slower cadence on the consequences of paying — in time or monetarily — for someone who won’t pay attention to you.
“Funny Friends” features rapper A$AP Rocky on unclear relationship definitions, choosing to awkwardly remain friends forever. “What Is Left to Say” is a feature with the rock band The Lemon Twigs about the confusion among relationship intentions when emotions are involved, or when they’re not. Emotional regulation is the main theme of this smooth soft-rock ballad.
“I Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time” has Thundercat harmonizing over a spiral of despair, recounting his faults in a past relationship. “Anakin Learns His Fate” has Thundercat take on the role of Anakin Skywalker. Rife with Star Wars references, despair takes center stage as Anakin gets emotionally invested and mentally tormented, causing him to eventually turn toward the dark side. “Walking on the Moon” takes a more dreamlike state of euphoria, being with someone in multiple contexts, sans gravity, time or cares. Grunge pioneer Beck is also featured on the background vocals.
“This Thing We Call Love” is a chilled but vulnerable funky reclamation of shamelessness and sex featuring rapper and producer Channel Tres. “ThunderWave” features WILLOW of “Whip My Hair” fame, a smooth neo-soul ballad on braving the unpredictable tides of a relationship complete with atmospheric lapping of a seashore.
“Pozole” is a Billy Joel-adjacent piano and bass tune where Thundercat croons on indecision in showing his true nature to a lover, despite whether she cares. This track then spills into “A.D.D. Through the Roof,” a mellow but relatable track denoting the struggles of regulating emotions, thoughts, past offenses and acceptance alongside Attention Deficit Disorder.
In “Great Americans,” Thundercat takes us on a wild, overstimulated journey of questioning reality, speaking to God, his cats and paralysis via distraction and deference while seemingly forgetting his diagnosis from the prior song. “You Left Without Saying Goodbye” then concludes the album and his thought process with a mellow and spacious train of thought looking to regulate himself via acceptance, breathing, magnesium and the thought of starting an OnlyFans showing feet.
With an unserious end to a topically diverse album, it showcases not only Bruner’s dark-humored mindset while producing this album, but also his musical staples and sensibilities. His brand of improvisational and quirky rhythms and riffs allow the music to take unpredictable turns in keys and moods. This album is a true testament to Bruner’s authenticity as well as the current state of the world, driven to distraction to avoid the hard truths.
8/10
