His talents as an improviser and bass player are hard to beat. Yet throughout this album the production feels too muddy and feels underproduced or badly mixed.

I was really impressed with Thundercat’s 2017 release ‘Drunk’, seeing it as the perfect combo of silly instrumentation and dreamy funky pop styles for the Kendrick generation while maintaining a playful attitude stereotypical of Thundercat’s work. Finally, he’s back with a new record bizarrely entitled ‘It Is What It Is’. Calling your album ‘It Is What It Is’ hardly inspires hope but I couldn’t wait to check out this new record regardless.

Compared to ‘Drunk’, this record seems more sombre, denser, and experiments less with theme and tone. The album opens with ‘Lost In Space / Great Scott / 22 – 26’: an aptly named spacey intro track. Lyrically, Thundercat speaks directly unto the listener (‘hi, hello, is anybody there?’) before describing how cold it feels; perhaps this is intended as a prelude for the tone of the album to come.

‘Innerstellar Love’ shows a tonal shift from Thundercat’s previous album. The music is definitely moodier on this record and this track introduces some spacey synths and Thundercat’s signature bass. The sax solo nearing the end of this track is a welcome, almost explosive, addition. ‘I Love Louis Cole’ is a fairly frantic Thundercat song; however, I love the way this song ends with this lovely culmination of strings. ‘Black Qualls’ was the lead single of this record and Thundercat truly pulls out the stops on this one. Bringing features from Steve Lacy and Childish Gambino, this track sounds like what Thundercat would have contributed had he been involved in Childish Gambino’s ‘Awaken My Love’. 

‘Miguel’s Happy Dance’ and ‘How Sway’ are both unjustifiable pieces of music. How these are needed or enjoyable is beyond me as they amount to little than some improvisation and muddy mixing, only accomplishing a harsh sound. ‘Funny Thing’ is a refreshing break after the previous two tracks, returning with more comprehensibly Thundercat music. It’s a shame that the following track ‘Overseas’ is another boring track devoid of much interesting or valuable.

‘Dragonball Durag’ is probably one of the best singles (definitely one of the best videos) of the year. Sadly the album sorely needs it at this point due to the lacklustre impression of other tracks which lack this track’s strong focus. Funky bass tones waltz under Thundercat’s falsetto vocals, while lyrically he brings out his stylistic humour, talking about ‘smashing in his dragonball durag’. There’s a definite silliness to this and it’s welcome here on one of the more solid tracks.

‘How I Feel’ is a brief interlude featuring some vocals that, like many tracks on this record, feels far too underdeveloped to be enjoyable or memorable. This leads straight into ‘King of the Hill’: quite a peaceful track that forms one of the stronger tracks on the record compared to some of the half-assed and poorly-mixed instrumental tracks.

‘Unrequited Love’ is another more fully-fledged track that just makes you wish the whole record had been more coherent and consistent with this moody blur of R&B and Thundercatisms. ‘Fair Chance’, featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Lil B, is another track that makes you lament why Thundercat just didn’t shorten the track list and curate a greater sense of internal consistency on the record. Just like his last album, when Thundercat shines he shines bright. However, his lack of consistency undermines this project and leaves the listener with an excessive playlist of filler tracks. 

‘Existential Dread’ is yet another under-written track that cements the apparent lack of album cohesion. It seems like Thundercat has literally just put some jams together with some full songs and been like ‘Here’s an album’. The final track on this record ‘It Is What It Is’ has a lot going for it, just like the album as a whole, but similarly feels underdeveloped and doesn’t come out feeling especially well-rounded. Lyrically Thundercat may shed some light on this, singing ‘So many things I want to say’: perhaps betraying this lack of cohesion on his end. The simple truth of the album is ‘It Is What It Is’. Unfortunately, what it is disappoints.

It sucks that this album feels so messy. With many unnecessary instrumental detours, and clocking in at 40 minute with 15 tracks, this album is shorter than his last but feels longer, less coherent, and sorely lacking in that comical charm of his previous releases. There’s no denying that Thundercat is one of the most talented modern bassists in existence. His work, both independent and collaborative work, speaks for itself through many exceptional projects across the past half-decade alone (‘To Pimp a Butterfly’, as just one example). His talents as an improviser and bass player are hard to beat. Yet throughout this album the production feels too muddy and feels underproduced or badly mixed. My main issue with this record is its inconsistency; I love that Thundercat has tried creating something more atmospheric and moody. The problem lies in execution though, leaving the tracks underwritten and inconsistent and falling short of the mark for such a talented artist.