For the greater part of my life, I have lived under the impression that a virtuoso’s instrumental prowess must live and die at stage center, never wavering for the “lesser” aspects of musicianship like atmosphere, intent, or all of the other attributes that make music such a rivetingly diverse universe. On that note, I’d like to thank Thundercat for proving the aforementioned sentiment to be patently false.
Apocalypse, Sean Brunner’s sophomore album under the moniker Thundercat, envelopes the listener with trademark space jazz fusion while simultaneously positioning them in a world where anything can happen. Though Brunner can unleash a torrential, and not to mention technically spectacular jazz line on a whim, restraint triumphs on the soundscape of Apocalypse, providing a tactful and instrumentally scintillating experience throughout. On Apocalypse, Brunner’s bass remains as the nuke ready to dispatch at a moment’s notice, but his finger hovers steady on the shiny red button.
Brunner’s swirling finger-picking bubbles, found underneath tracks like "Heartbreaks + Setbacks," provide an intricate classical backdrop that supplements the more atmospheric subtleties of reverberated synth pads and delayed falsetto.
The opening track, "Tenfold," presents his audience with an idealogical soup of electro-house (thanks in part to his co-producer and pal, Flying Lotus) backed by a simple and steady bass drive - further proof that despite his ability, Brunner isn’t here to impress the jazz junkies with his furious finger picking.
Being more lyrically dense than Thundercat’s debut album, Golden Age Of The Apocalypse, Brunner is allotted a great deal of thematic creativity. These are spaces which he chooses to fill with psalms of love, life complications, and of course, being too fucked up on ecstasy. Brunner’s subject matter deals primarily in the world of love had and love lost. Cliché though it may be, the naiveté melds seamlessly with his pop-infused brand of astral jazz and adds a sense of universality that everyone will have at least a nugget of something to latch onto.
Of course, good friend and collaborator, Steven Ellison (Flying Lotus), did help produce Apocalypse with Thundercat, but somehow seems primarily absent (aside from the track "Seven" which sounds like a b-side from Cosmogramma). So if you were excited to pick this album up in hopes of a more direct collaboration between the two friends, you might be disappointed. This is truly a Thundercat album - and a good one at that.
At the end of the day, not only is Apocalypse just a great Thundercat album, but it is a rare instance of a musician who’s interested in all aspects of music, despite his uncanny ability to groove a jazz line with the best of the best. If nothing else, at least listen to the track "Oh Sheit It’s X" for a good laugh and some good old-fashioned funk.
Grade: A-
