{"id":61640,"date":"2026-04-03T17:47:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/thundercat-voyages-through-grief-and-beauty-on-distraction\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T17:47:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:47:51","slug":"thundercat-voyages-through-grief-and-beauty-on-distraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/thundercat-voyages-through-grief-and-beauty-on-distraction\/","title":{"rendered":"Thundercat Voyages Through Grief and Beauty on ‘Distraction’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tStephen Bruner feels your pain. Or at least he\u2019s feeling his own, which may look much like yours. Distracted<\/em> is the first LP in six years by the virtuoso bassist and R&B visionary, and it finds him wallowing in perhaps the healthiest way: as creative practice. He\u2019s staring down loss while making the struggle as beautiful, funny, spacey, and vibe-y as he can.<\/p>\n

\n\tDistracted <\/em>remains unmistakably Thundercat<\/a>: Seventies jazz fusion meets Eighties quiet storm \u2014 the sound golden-era hip-hop reanimated via sampling \u2014 reverse-engineered with real instruments and electronics. Bruner also comes from the tradition of P-Funk, and fellow L.A. prodigy Frank Zappa, mixing sophisticated musicianship with dopey comedy and dark emotions. He\u2019s a man who spikes swoony R&B heart shares with confessions like \u201cI\u2019m just kind of ass.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tWhat\u2019s new here is pop producer Greg Kurstin replacing Bruner\u2019s usual wingman, Flying Lotus (who helicopters in for the squelchy funk strut \u201cI Did This to Myself\u201d). Kurstin makes things smoother, shinier, and less weird than Fly Lo might \u2014 not necessarily a bad thing. Similarly, the caliber of Thundercat\u2019s guest list feels upscaled. Alongside a posthumous cameo from his friend Mac Miller are A$AP Rocky, Lil Yachty, Kevin Parker, Willow Smith, and Channel Tres.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe MCs land some nice lines (\u201cKarma\u2019s a revolver, we livin\u2019 like the Beatles\u201d laments A$AP on \u201cFunny Friends\u201d), the Tame Impala jam is fine, and the Willow duet is sweet, with Bruner doing his best version of Michael McDonald (a yacht rock OG he\u2019s worked with more than once). But the album\u2019s deepest moments are Thundercat\u2019s own. \u201cWalking On The Moon\u201d is pure outer space love vibes: \u201cMy Barbarella\/You\u2019re my Uhura\/ I\u2019m Your Starship Trooper,\u201d Bruner purrs in full geek mode, invoking Jane Fonda, Star Trek <\/em>and The Yes Album<\/em>. <\/em>\u201cPozole\u201d weighs pros and cons of emotional disclosure with Beach Boys harmonies, while \u201cADD Through the Roof,\u201d by way of illustration, becomes a rapidfire jazz fusion fever dream. \u201cGreat Americans\u201d finds the singer in a downward spiral, pleading \u201cDear Lord\/Send help\/I\u2019m talking to my cat\/meow.<\/em>\u201d (Maybe have his people call Mitski\u2019s people?) Distracted <\/em>ends with Bruner fretting over money and pondering options. \u201cMaybe I should start an OnlyFans and show some feet,\u201d he asks. Um, do whatcha gotta, dude, and take care. But keep that music flowing.<\/p>\n

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Stephen Bruner feels your pain. Or at least he\u2019s feeling his own, which may look much like yours. Distracted is the first LP in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":61641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}