KARPEH Cautious Clay

• 1102 Years of Comedy (Intro)00:33
• 2Fishtown02:57
• 3Ohio02:51
• 4Karpehs Don't Flinch02:09
• 5The Tide Is My Witness03:39
• 6Take a Half (a Feeling We Chase)00:42
• 7Another Half02:29
• 8Repeat Myself02:08
• 9Glass Face03:17
• 10Walls & a Roof (Interlude)00:27
• 11Unfinished House02:33
• 12Blue Lips04:07
• 13Tears of Fate04:33
• 14Yesterday's Price05:16
• 15Moments Stolen03:57
• Total Runtime41:38

Info zu KARPEH

Hinter dem Pseudonym Cautious Clay verbirgt sich der in Cleveland, Ohio geborene und heute in Brooklyn, New York lebende Joshua Karpeh. Die Profilaufbahn als Musiker hat Joshua, der an der George Washington University in D.C. im Nebenfach Jazz studierte, erst vor wenigen Jahren eingeschlagen. Seinen ersten Hit landete er 2017 mit dem Song “Cold War”, der allein auf Spotify inzwischen mehr als 117 Millionen Mal gestreamt wurde. Bekannt wurde die Nummer auch durch die HBO-Hit-TV-Serie “Insecure” und Olivia Wildes spritzige Filmkomödie “Booksmart”. Nach drei EPs und einer Reihe erfolgreicher Singles, legte Cautious Clay 2021 mit “Deadpan Love” sein erstes Album vor, das im Musikexpress als “ein aufregender Tanz zwischen R’n’B und Indie-Songwritertum” beschrieben wurde.

Karpehs nicht alltäglicher Nachname sollte aber auch Jazzfans, nicht zuletzt in Deutschland, aufhorchen lassen, denn in den 1980ern und 90ern sorgte ein junger, aus Mainz stammender Bass-Virtuose an der Seite von John McLaughlin und anderen internationalen Fusion- und Jazz-Größen für weltweite Furore: Kai Eckhardt-Karpeh de Camargo, Joshuas Onkel. Und in dessen Fußstapfen tritt als Cautious Clay nun Joshua, der sich auf seinem ersten Album für Blue Note als sehr geschmeidiger Rhythm’n’Blues-Sänger und versierter Multiinstrumentalist vorstellt. Zu hören ist er auf dem schillernd abwechslungsreichen Album “Karpeh” an diversen Saxofonen, Flöte, Bassklarinette, Gitarre, Bass und Synthesizer. Einen ersten Vorgeschmack auf das Album, das am 18. August erscheinen wird, gab es schon im Mai mit der pop-orientierten Single “Ohio”. Als zweiter Song erscheint jetzt mit “Yesterday’s Price” ein deutlich jazzigerer Track, auf dem Cautious Clay mit den beiden Blue-Note-Größen Immanuel Wilkins und Ambrose Akinmusire zu hören ist.

Cautious Clay, Gesang
Joshua Karpeh, Saxophon, Flöte, Gitarre, Synthesizer, Bass, Bassklarinette
Zusätzliche Musiker:
Alwyn Robinson, Schlagzeug
Joshua Crumbly, Bass
Julius Rodriguez, Klavier
Julian Lage, Gitarre
Sean Rickman, Schlagzeug
Daniel Pappalardo, Bass
Kai Eckhardt, Bass
Arooj Aftab, Gesang
Joel Ross, Vibraphon
Immanuel Wilkins, Altsaxophon
Ambrose Akinmusire, Trompete
Meryl Cooper, gesprochenes Wort
Titee Marion Karpeh, gesprochenes Wort
Olivia Howell, gesprochenes Wort
William Dinguss, gesprochenes Wort
Caitlyn Harris, gesprochenes Wort
Georgia Heers, zusätzlicher Gesang
Sarah K. Pedinotti, zusätzlicher Gesang
William Dingus, zusätzlicher Gesang

Cautious Clay
Since 2017, Cautious Clay has been steadily building a devoted fanbase with his heartfelt songwriting and a unique sound that moves fluidly between pop, alternative R&B, and indie rock. He began receiving wide recognition with the 2018 release of Blood Type featuring the breakthrough single “Cold War,” a naked call for emotional honesty and transparency that resonated deeply with listeners and has since been streamed more than 150 million times. The song was featured on Issa Rae’s hit HBO TV show, Insecure, and Olivia Wilde’s movie, Booksmart, and was interpolated by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff on “London Boy” from the pop star’s album Lover. Cautious’ other outside writing and production credits include working with Billie Eilish, John Mayer, John Legend, Khalid, Kavinsky, Melanie Martinez, Remi Wolf, and more. Following two more EPs—Resonance and Table of Context—Cautious released his debut full-length, Deadpan Love in 2021, delivering on his early promise with an album that centered on the balance between oneself and others. With his Blue Note debut KARPEH, Cautious Clay offers an even more intimate glimpse inside his highly biographical artistic vision.

“Ever since I started playing music, it was always about the feel,” says Josh Karpeh, AKA Cautious Clay. “There are a lot of things in art that you can learn by practicing or studying, but feel’s not one of them. It’s something you’ve just got to have.”

It’s that feel, that deep emotional intuition that fuels Cautious Clay’s sound. Blending R&B, hip-hop, and experimental indie, his productions are dark and engrossing, built upon a unique combination of organic instruments, digital programming, and soulful vocals. He writes with unflinching honesty, engaging in deeply personal self-reflection with boldly vulnerable and vividly poetic lyrics. At times recalling contemporaries like James Blake or Sampha, Cautious is a profoundly modern songwriter and a forward- thinking producer, but he’s also steeped in the past, quick to cite Burt Bacharach as an idol and credit Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones as ever-present influences in his artful arrangements.

“I used to think about songwriting and production as completely separate,” he explains, “but when I learned how to merge those two things, that’s when I was able to start creating music that really connected with people.”

Originally from Cleveland, OH, Cautious began his artistic journey at the age of seven when he picked up classical flute. His studies led him deep into the worlds of blues and jazz, and by the time he hit college in Washington, D.C., he’d added a number of other instruments to his repertoire in addition to songwriting and production. Now based in Brooklyn, Cautious is consistently working on music for both his own project and for others.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet