An unstoppable sense of groove that threads a vast, playful patchwork: Distracted reveals the Californian in all his facets.
And if music had always been, for Thundercat, a way to conjure his own world, far from the adult world? The hypothesis takes root in the mid-2010s, when the American transformed Twitter into a theatre of LOL, equipped himself with a lightsaber to receive his first Grammy, and announced his tour by simulating a sexual act with his Pokémon plush toy.
Since then, Flying Lotus’s best friend has continually placed amusement at the core of his albums, blending a delightfully odd sensibility—original enough to stay innovative without veering into bizarre territory—while arousing curiosity rather than suspicion.
Knocking the Dreary Days Out of the Whole Day
With Distracted, the artistic logic remains the same: it is primarily about knocking the dreary days out of the way, crafting hymns of joy alongside his “funny friends,” increasingly numerous. When you read the names Tame Impala, The Lemon Twigs, A$AP Rocky, Channel Tres, Lil Yachty, Willow, or the late Mac Miller, you inevitably think of all those albums weighed down by the temptations of their authors’ nouveau-riche impulses, and you rejoice to see Distracted escape such a trap.
Thundercat is too playful to reduce his melodies to a single logic, not commercial enough or manipulative enough to boil his choices down to mere stylistic effects. He stands as the very example of the idea that any human being, whatever they do, inevitably returns to their teenage passions. Hence the references to Star Wars (Anakin Learns His Fate), these space-time journey lyrics, and this LA-made hedonism that saturates every groove, almost every chorus.
That is the major difference between this fifth full-length and the inaugural The Golden Age of Apocalypse, released in 2011: the Californian bassist has learned to render his sonic architectures more legible, instantly appealing, without sacrificing any of their richness.
Distracted (Brainfeeder/PIAS). Release on April 3.
