Album Review: Thundercat - Drunk
Following a brief introductory track, the first words you
hear on the new album from jazz fusion bassist Thundercat are “I feel weird.” The song title itself is
cringe-worthy (“Captain Stupido”), and I suppose this is all very fitting;
Thundercat is a weird dude, and Drunk
is a very, very weird album.
Something was keeping me from listening to other albums by Thundercat
for a long time, but thanks to his contributions to Kamasi Washington’s The Epic, as well as his role in shaping
Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly,
I thought I should give Drunk a
listen.
And in doing so, I see now what it was that was keeping me
away from Thundercat.
A sprawling 23 tracks, though none of them are over four
minutes in length, Drunk as an album,
and Thundercat, as a songwriter and performer, are both in a state of constant
struggle to determine what is more important: an oddball sense of humor, or
interesting arrangements.
That conflict between left-field laughs and jazzy, funky,
slightly electronic-based compositions runs throughout Drunk, making it a difficult, puzzling listening experience.
Getting over the initial head scratching “Captain Stupido,” the album heads
into a frenetic instrumental track before arriving at the shuffling, early
single “Bus in These Streets.”
I guess the real problem with Drunk surfaces early on: Thundercat (born Stephen Bruner) isn’t a
very good lyricist. Or, rather, maybe he just doesn’t care, and that’s the
point. The array of jokey, near stream of consciousness nonsense continues to
grow more severe, and difficult to stomach, as you make your way through the
album: there’s the meowing on “A Fan’s Mail,” and there’s the borderline
misogyny of “Friend Zone.”
While there are offenders throughout, I suppose the song
that pushed me over the edge was the skittering “Tokyo,” a song that includes
such gems as “Gonna eat so much fish, I
think I’m gonna be sick/Gonna blow all my cash on Anime,” and “It was premeditated, tried to get someone
pregnant/It wasn’t her fault, I’m just kind of psychotic.”
Like, this is some near Mark Kozelek levels of bullshit
lyrics here, but with Thundercat, everything is sung through a yacht-rock
falsetto, delivered with a knowing wink and a mostly straight face.
Mentioning yacht rock seems like as good of time as any to
draw attention to the cameo appearances from both Michael McDonald AND Kenny
Loggins on THE SAME SONG—the smoothed out “Show You The Way.” The song itself
is relatively infectious, which is impressive; however, Thundercat can’t help
but slide the song into a self-aware direction when he insists on tossing in an
introduction for each vocalist prior to their verse.
Despite how idiosyncratic this all is, there are some
surprising standout moments on Drunk—like
the double shot of the shimmering slow jam “Lava Lamp” and the head-nodding,
all too short triumph of “Jethro.”
Musically speaking, Drunk
is a dense and interesting album. Thundercat is obviously a master of his
instrument, and as a composer (not a lyricist) he has a knack for blending
myriad genres and elements to create something that is both accessible yet
bizarre.
Maybe I take music too seriously. Maybe that’s my problem.
Maybe if I knew how to have fun, and listened to “fun” music, perhaps Drunk would be an enjoyable listen. But
that is not the case. While I did find the music to be interesting, the lyrical
content of this album made me raise my eyebrow more than once, and I don’t
really see this as the kind of thing I’d be returning to for subsequent
listens, unless I suddenly develop a sense of humor.
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