It’s been 6 years since Thundercat released an album with the Grammy-award winning It Is What It Is, and we have been fiending for something new from him for a while. Aside from doing some guest appearances and production work in between albums, the first glimpse of a single was in 2023 with “No More Lies” featuring Tame Impala and… wow this reminds me how that last Tame Impala album was such a letdown.
Of course, other singles soon followed with “I Wish I Didn’t Waste My Time” along with “I Did This to Myself”, “She Knows Too Much” and “ThunderWave.” My opinion varied on each track with my least favorite being “I Did This to Myself” thanks to that Lil’ Yachty verse, and my favorite was “I Wish I Didn’t Waste My Time” (at the time). Now we finally have a new record out, and it does have some interesting features in here like the late Mac Miller, WILLOW, A$AP Rocky, Channel Tres, and rock band The Lemon Twigs.
So, is 6 years of waiting for some new Thundercat worth it? Has this album kept me distracted from other things?
Well, yeah. In fact, I’m willing to say that this might be my favorite album of 2026 so far.
If you know your Thundercat albums, you know he often has some heavy subject matter like modern anxiety and being overwhelmed by the world, trying to balance it off with introspection, humor and heart with some virtuoso instrumentation. And man, this is some instrumentation and production that has that je ne sais quoi.
Our intro track “Candlelight” is a fire way to start out the album with its outer-space vibe and galactic sound, especially knowing two of the contributors on this are Domi and JD Beck. Who are they, you may ask? They are French keyboardist Domi Louna and American drummer JD Beck — child prodigy musicians that have worked with such artists as Anderson. Paak, Herbie Hancock, Ariana Grande and they had an album out in 2022, Not Tight (and yes, it’s one of my favorites from that year).
The next 4 tracks are feature-heavy, and some I have already talked about before, but I’ll repeat myself: “I Did This to Myself” might be my least favorite on here because this reminds me of that classic 2016 track “Broccoli.” You know, by DRAM? Also, the first thing I knew about Lil’ Yachty is that verse of his, and while his feature on “I Did This to Myself” isn’t as bad as his part on “Broccoli,” I wouldn’t play this very often. Yeah, this track is mostly about Thundercat in a relationship and how the woman is playing him but at least Thundercat didn’t talk shit about OnlyFans not being a real job.
“She Knows Too Much” is a funky good-time with him and Mac Miller, on top of being the better single with a feature considering their friendship and all. Yeah, it’s about Mac talking to a woman out of his league but finding out the woman is a gold digger with not much going on. Oh, and you should watch the music video for this since it’s visually eye-pleasing.
“Funny Friends” has him teaming up with A$AP Rocky on this, and funnily enough this was originally meant for Don’t Be Dumb (and you can see the reason). We know Rocky does tend to go experimental in his work and thankfully, this is the experimental part of him that works. There’s also another factor to this, and it’s who produced the majority of the album. And that is… Greg Kurstin. Yeah, the music producer known for working with a lot of pop acts like Adele, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, and Sia. This may seem out of the ordinary, but he’s also produced for people like Kendrick Lamar and even Gorillaz, (doing most of the production on Cracker Island) but hey, he does some stellar work here. Almost every track’s got an amazing sound out of it, and I got no qualms here. I’ll say that the presence of Flying Lotus isn’t much – he’s only produced two tracks here, one of them being the aforementioned “I Did This to Myself.”
However, when it comes to my favorite tracks, this one immediately stuck out. “What Is Left to Say?” featuring The Lemon Twigs stuck with me through many, many listens from the instrumentation that has that ‘70s soul/pop style reminiscent of The Bee Gees to the simple but poignant lyrics that hit in some areas.
I don’t need much, maybe a simple touch
It’s in the way that you reply to me like you can see
Feelings are like children in the car
You can’t put them in the trunk, but let them drive, you won’t go far
And if someone should ask me why
I’ll turn around and say
Yeah, A Star Wars reference, and it’s not the last of them. Also, the fact that I found out that KENNY BEATS of all people produced this had caught my attention after this wowed me.
Speaking of Star Wars, the track after “I Wish I Didn’t Waste My Time” is literally titled “Anakin Learns His Fate,” and if you’re a SW nerd (at least that isn’t a dick), Thundercat sings about Anakin understanding why he turned to the dark side. The funny thing about this song is that there’s a co-writer credit to Haley Joel Osment. Yeah, Sora from Kingdom Hearts contributed to this as well.
I’ll speed-round through some tracks here – “Walking on the Moon” may not be a favorite of mine but I would still tune in and hear those sweet Thundercat vocals alongside some sweet sci-fi references!
My Barbarella, you’re my Uhura
I’m your starship trooper, event horizon
Where time is standing still
Walking on the moon
”This Thing We Call Love” is a joint that makes you want to dance and strut, and man Channel Tres did his thing on here (he’s very underrated as an artist). “ThunderWave” was one of the aforementioned singles and the vocals from Thundercat and especially WILLOW both soar, like there’s harmonizing and then there’s singing like this. I was floored with this, and then the next track follows with “Pozole.”
For those that don’t know what that is, pozole is a traditional, hearty Mexican stew made with hominy (large corn kernels) and meat (typically pork or chicken), simmered in a flavorful broth that can be red (rojo), green (verde), or white (blanco). It is served with fresh garnishes like shredded lettuce or cabbage, onions, radishes, avocado, cilantro, and lime. This has nothing to do with the song, and yet this is also another one of my favorites, with The Lemon Twigs producing this one too. This one mostly involves mental health and trying to work through some stuff and while there’s not a lot of lyrics, this does hit and the vocalization is probably one of the best moments in the song.
“A.D.D. Through the Roof” shown some excellent instrumentation throughout the end with “Great Americans” having the power of cat ad-libs, and “You Left Without Saying Goodbye” is a short closer that’s more melancholic but a sweet finisher.
On first listen, I really dug the hell out of this but the more I listened to it, the more I loved it: from the great production and instrumentation to the usual funkiness and groove I expect from the slowed-down and melancholic tracks that often hit in a special place. It is truly an amazing album from start to finish!
FINAL VERDICT: Buy It. You won’t be distracted by this work of art. It is a must-listen!
DISTRACTED is on Brainfeeder and is available on CD, vinyl, digital download and on streaming services.