(Photo Credit: Owen Ela)
The well-celebrated, Grammy-winning singer/bassist Thundercat has confirmed his 3rd full-length studio album Drunk for a February 24th release via his friend Flying Lotus’ label Brainfeeder. The 23 track long epic will be a journey into the mind of this enigmatic and hilarious artist along with a few of his friends, including Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Wiz Khalifa, Kamasi Washington, and, of course, Flying Lotus. Drunk will be the follow-up to his well-received 2015 mini album The Beyond / Where The Giants Roam, and features fan favorite tracks “Bus In These Streets” and “Them Changes.”
To satiate his waiting fans, Thundercat has released lead single “Show You The Way” along with the album announcement. The ballad features an amazing cast of Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. Thundercat had mentioned his love of Loggins several times during his press tour for The Beyond, leading to an introduction via his keyboard player Dennis Hamm.
“These are guys that I’ve listened to and where I felt that I’ve learned that honesty in the music. Kenny Loggins is one of my favorite songwriters.” Loggins was the one that suggested bringing McDonald in on the track and, Thundercat adds, “I think one of the most beautiful moments of it was realizing how amazing Michael McDonald was. He would go through so many ideas and have so much to offer.”
“That song to me is about going down the rabbit hole, taking you to another place… On the edge of dark, there’s the brightest light,” continues Thundercat. “It means a lot to me in the sense of… the experience that I’ve had growing up with friends and people that I’ve been around where it’s inviting them into where I come from emotionally. Sometimes it’s a pretty intense thing. The point is how weird things can get. I feel like it’s very funny that, in a way, of course Michael McDonald and Kenny would be there.”
The album title, like the rest of the album, is meant to be both humorous and serious. “I’ve always tried to hold true to what Erykah Badu and Flying Lotus told me: It has to come from an honest place. I feel like it’s a place that I’ve been in different ways, seen different angles of and it’s been a bit inspirational, the drinking,” says Thundercat. “It has its ups and downs and everything, but I felt like it showed the human side of what goes on behind things, something that I see with all of my friends… I felt like it was kind of interweaved in the music culture. And it’s something that’s never talked about.”
Check out the album art and tracklist for Drunk below.
Drunk Tracklist
01. Rabbot Ho
02. Captain Stupido
03. Uh Uh
04. Bus In These Streets
05. A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song Suite II)
06. Lava Lamp
07. Jethro
08. Day & Night
09. Show You The Way (feat. Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins)
10. Walk On By (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
11. Blackkk
12. Tokyo
13. Jameel’s Space Ride
14. Friend Zone
15. Them Changes
16. Where I’m Going
17. Drink Dat (feat. Wiz Khalifa)
18. Inferno
19. I Am Crazy
20. 3AM
21. Drunk
22. The Turn Down (feat. Pharrell)
23. DUI