Recommended tracks: “Tokyo Lift (5am),” “Promises (9am),” “Amber (11am)”
Artists you may like: Khalid, Amber Mark, Dijon
Joshua Karpeh, better known as Cautious Clay, has released his third album, The Hours: Morning this past Friday via Blue Note Records. The soulful Brooklyn-based indie R&B singer has graced the New York music scene for nearly a decade with hits like the massively popular “Cold War,” and more tender tunes like “Wildfire.” Clay has co-writing credits with music industry giants such as John Legend, Taylor Swift and Anderson.Paak. Listening through The Hours: Morning makes it clear exactly why and how he has found success.
The Hours: Morning is a concept album that captures the feeling of each hour of Clay’s morning. He reflects on several themes like the struggle to be present in the moment, unrequited love, keeping priorities straight, and taking time to rest.
Opening track, “Tokyo Lift (5am),” takes us through the last moments of a perfect night out when you’re not ready to go home yet. It’s a very jazzy, rhythmic tune with plenty of reverb and haze to set the mood. This song is about allowing time to pass and enjoying the moment. The arrangement makes the listener want to do just that. It’s a very strong opener for the album; it feels like driving with the windows down in the summer.
“No Champagne (6am)” is a substantial tonal shift from the opening track, but I think it makes a lot of sense. One hour can feel completely different from the next on any given morning. That’s just life, really, and Clay wastes no time embodying the ebb and flow of the morning. This 6/8 ballad feels like a cinematic montage of falling in love. Clay’s use of saturated harmonies gives the song a dream-like vibe.
“Traffic (7am)” and “The Plot (8am)” explore the process of getting mentally and emotionally prepared for the day. Clearing the mind and setting an intention is difficult, but the saxophone solo in “Traffic (7am)” sure does take the edge off. I’m generally not a fan of saxophone solos in contemporary pop music; it can feel like such an obvious, cheesy nod to 80s glam metal and synth pop. However, I thought this solo was very tastefully used. It was a gentle segue into the “The Plot (8am),” where Clay reminds us not to lose the plot when things are hard (“So who you thinking of when the plot gets tough?”). This song feels like driving to work, shaking off the anxiety of the morning rush, slowly locking in for the day. The use of slap bass in this track reminds us that Clay is just as much an R&B artist as an indie pop artist.
At the halfway point of the album, we have “Promises (9am),” a beautiful, rolling jam that showcases Clay’s vocal range. It’s about trying to keep the morning as drama-free as possible. Clay tells a story of a relationship in which one person is invested in someone who is non-committal at best (“Faking that you love me is easy, but the hill you’re dying on isn’t breezy”). This soulful power ballad is a very comfy reset for the second half of the morning.
In “Father Time (10am),” Clay grapples with the passage of time, and not allowing it to stop him living the life he wants to live. It’s an upbeat dance track that captures the feeling of being caught up in the endless to-do list of the day, wondering where the time is going. And before you know it, it’s 11:00. In “Amber (11am),” Clay offers a funk-infused description of the hour just before the sun reaches its peak, when the sky is rich and golden: “There’s amber in the air, denim jackets flared out, whistles blowin’ hair out while you’re sitting right next to me.”
Clay wraps the album with “Smoke Break (12pm),” a laid-back, country-adjacent tune about blowing off steam after a wild morning, saying 30 minutes just isn’t enough after the morning we’ve spent together (“Another 30 minutes in stride, but you don’t wanna call it a smoke break… but if I had it my way, you know it might take longer”). It feels like the song that would play during the end credits if this album were a movie.
Anybody can relate to the compelling story Cautious Clay managed to tell in just 20 minutes, and the way he skillfully integrates so many styles into his art is a large part of what endears him to listeners old and new.
The Hours: Morning is available to stream wherever you listen to music, and available for purchase at most music retailers, and Clay’s website.
You can also catch Cautious Clay touring Hours: The Morning this fall. Tickets are available here.
Keep up with Cautious Clay: Website // Instagram // YouTube // TikTok // X // Facebook // Spotify // Bandsintown
