Will Hermes
View all posts by Will Hermes April 3, 2026
Neil Krug* Stephen Bruner feels your pain. Or at least he’s feeling his own, which may look much like yours. Distracted 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’s staring down loss while making the struggle as beautiful, funny, spacey, and vibe-y as he can.
Distracted remains unmistakably Thundercat: Seventies jazz fusion meets Eighties quiet storm — the sound golden-era hip-hop reanimated via sampling — 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’s a man who spikes swoony R&B heart shares with confessions like “I’m just kind of ass.”
