BIO

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It’s a brand new day for Cautious Clay, and he’s taking it head on. The singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist also known as Joshua Karpeh hits a galvanizing stride that unfolds hour-by-hour on his newest project, The Hours: Morning, a conceptual endeavor that’s equal parts mixtape and emotive timetable. Facing daybreak with a certain pop precision that he’s honed over the past decade, it’s a project that further illuminates Karpeh as an artist whose strength lies in his dexterity.

Ever since debuting with “Cold War” in 2017, Karpeh’s life has been committed to his craft. That single, an instantaneous success first on Soundcloud and later on streaming, allowed him to quit his day job and turn what was once a hobby into a sustaining career. A near-constant stream of music and subsequent opportunities soon followed: EPs, albums, collaborations, tours, festival slots, and an enviable number of film/TV syncs. His homegrown soul captured the attention of fans such as Taylor Swift (who interpolated “Cold War” on her song “London Boy”), John Mayer (who joined him on stage at The Fonda in 2019) and BLACKPINK’s Rosé (who released a cover of “Wildfire” on Youtube in 2021).

With the abundance of mainstream success under his belt, Karpeh took his saxophone and swung to the left for his most recent full-length album, 2023’s KARPEH. Dubbed “a radical reinvention” by NME, the LP was a cathartic exercise on cultural identity, as he traced his lineage from West African roots to Ohio upbringing and his Brooklyn present via conversations with family members. Six years of preparation were distilled into six days of recording alongside musicians such as Immanuel Wilkins, Julian Lage, Arooj Aftab, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Karpeh’s uncle, Kai Eckhardt. The result was his most challenging and satisfying work to date, a full realization of the jazziest aspects of his discography flecked with R&B panache.

As his creative process evolved, so did his sense of normalcy when he moved to Philadelphia following the release of KARPEH. Suddenly time spent in Brooklyn — the place where Cautious Clay bloomed into the project it is today — became much more precious. Ritual became a necessity. Pushing the limits of a freeform existence that once felt natural, he began etching out a schedule that prioritized time away from the studio and diverted toward hobbies such as basketball and painting. Consequently, these limited windows of time for music provided the infrastructure for focused creativity, and soon enough, Karpeh had netted over 60 songs over the course of a year.

Of this batch, the eight that appear on The Hours: Morning were selected on the basis of which Karpeh associates with each waking hour. Lead single “No Champagne” radiates with the warmth of sunrise beaming through the window, casting light on hard truths in a relationship: “Whether it’s morning or night, I see the waves taking their shape when your skin hits the light, I get a feeling I can’t shake” he emotes on the song. “It was keeping me awake till six in the morning.”

“I was really trying to set an image around defining the difference between expectation versus reality. Being in a space with someone that you care about and understanding what they want out of a relationship versus what you want out of a relationship,” Karpeh says of the song. ”When we’re at our worst, how are we translating with that person in a room? When there’s no champagne, when there’s no real reason to celebrate – how are you actually connecting to me? How are we actually connecting to each other?”

Vacillating from bleary-eyed to bombastic, the eight pop-driven tracks on The Hours: Morning continue to steer the listener through an entirely subjective interpretation of daybreak, one he describes as “more conversational than intensely personal.” Time may be a flat circle but the dimension that Karpeh is evoking through the ever-expanding scope of his work is indisputable.

Credits

ARTIST: Cautious Clay

TITLE: The Hours: Morning

LABEL: Fantasy Records

UPC: 888072685932

FAN02884

Produced, Recorded and Mixed by Cautious Clay

“No Champagne (6am)” Produced by Valley Girl and Cautious Clay

“The Plot (8am)” Produced by HXNS, Elujay and Cautious Clay

“Promises (9am)” Produced by Eli Hirsch, Micah Gordon and Cautious Clay

“Amber (11am)” Produced by Cautious Clay and Eli Hirsch

“Promises (9am)” Mixed by NealHPogue at TheHotPurplePettingZoo; assistant engineer: Zachary Acosta

“Amber (11am)” Mixed by MixedByBlue

Mastered by John Greeham at Clearlight Mastering; assisted by Tess Greenham

Dolby Atmos Mixer: Seth Presant

Tokyo Lift (5am) (2:24)

(Cautious Clay, Sarah Aarons, Sammy White)

Karpeh (ASCAP) / Patriot Games Publishing (ASCAP). All rights reserved and administered by Concord Boulevard (ASCAP) / Sony/ATV Songs LLC/Agressively Average Songs (BMI) / Sony/ATV/Songs LLC/Solag Music (BMI)

Cautious Clay – vocals, guitar, bass, synths, drums

No Champagne (6am) (2:34)

(Cautious Clay, Kyle Shearer, Nate Campany)

Karpeh (ASCAP) / Patriot Games Publishing (ASCAP). All rights reserved and administered by Concord Boulevard (ASCAP) / Eggplant Tears Publishing (ASCAP) / Dear Cleveland Publishing/Where Da Kasz at (BMI)

Cautious Clay – vocals, guitar, bass, synth, drums

Kyle Schearer – guitar, bass synth, drums

Dan Pappalardo – bass

Traffic (7am) (2:54)

(Cautious Clay)

Cautious Clay – vocals, bass, synth, drums

Nir Felder – guitar

The Plot (8am) (2:16)

(Cautious Clay, Kyle Shearer, Nate Campany)

Karpeh (ASCAP) / Patriot Games Publishing (ASCAP). All rights reserved and administered by Concord Boulevard (ASCAP) / Eggplant Tears Publishing (ASCAP) / Dear Cleveland Publishing/Where Da Kasz at (BMI)

Cautious Clay – vocals, guitar, bass, synth

Benjamin Isaiah Yasemsky – guitar

HNXS – drums, guitar, bass, synth

Elujay – bass, guitar, synth

Dan Pappalardo – bass

Promises (9am) (2:55)

(Eli Hirsh, Micah Gordon, Cautious Clay)

Platinum Grover Publishing (SESAC) / Karpeh (ASCAP) / Patriot Games Publishing (ASCAP). All rights reserved and administered by Concord Boulevard (ASCAP) / BIG MACHINE MUSIC (BMI)/Lemons4days (BMI) Administered by Big Machine Music, LLC

Cautious Clay – vocals, guitar, bass, synth, drums

Eli Hirsch – guitar, bass, synth, drums

Micah Gordon – guitar, bass, synth, drums

Father Time (10am) (2:27)

(Cautious Clay, Justin Raisen)

Cautious Clay – vocals, guitar, synth, drums

Justin Raisen – guitar, bass, synth, drums

Amber (11am) (2:40)

(Cautious Clay, Eli Hirsh, Jason “Tenroc” Cornet)

Cautious Clay – vocals

Eli Hirsch – guitar, synth

Dan Pappalardo – bass

Jason “Tenroc” Cornet – guitar

Smoke Break (12pm) (2:37)

(Cautious Clay, Mikey Freedom Hart, Homer Steinweiss)

Cautious Clay – vocals, synth, drums

Mikey Freedom Hart – guitar

Homer Steinweiss – drums

Dan Pappalardo – bass

Lyrics

Tokyo Lift

Took a drive outta little Tokyo in a 4×4
I need a little while to feel like living
Walk a quarter mile from a parking spot till we saw the shore
Clocked a little bar with a shallow ceiling
They said stay a while
we at the best part of wasting time
You’re in denial
But I’m not talking bout a river
Ouuuu babe where the time gone
Now You singing me your favorite karaoke song
No better time then the present one
Oh baby if I sang along with you
Would you read what you read say what you said to me off of Soju and brown rum?
Cause whatever the feeling, it’s sinking in and the time you on ain’t scripted
Couldn’t of prompt it or fixed it
in her mood like the spice just kicked in
At a kick back
with a shallow ceiling
So why don’t you stay a while
we at the best part of wasting time
Your in denial
But I’m not talking bout a River
Ouuuu babe where the time gone
Now You singing me your favorite karaoke song
No better time then the present one
Oh baby if I sang along wit you
No matter the ways you choose to be
No matter if you lose touch with me
This life we living is comedy
(Flute solo)

No Champagne

Whether it’s morning or the night
I see the waves taking their shape
Then your skin hits the light
I get a feeling I can’t shake

It was keeping me awake
Till 6 in the morning
So Assuming we still around
Got no plans of coming down
I hope you enjoying how
you been running my mind
But When my eyes close
There’s no champagne
There’s no real reason to celebrate
Just I want you close
As long as you wanna stay
The faces and places might change
But I hope you know
Today you’re for me
You’re all that I need
No knots could define how I’m…
down for you

You know there’s not much more to life
Then seeing all the things you make
So when the fruit starts to ripen
Just keep a little for my sake
It’s getting sweeter everyday
But it’s more than good fortune
So like sunsets above the sound
there’s a good chance we’re coming down
But I wanna keep you around
how you’re running my mind
But When my eyes close
There’s no champagne
There’s no real reason to celebrate
Just I want you close
As long as you wanna stay
The faces and places might change
But I hope you know
Today you’re for me
You’re all that I need
No knots could define how I’m…
Down for you
Down for you

Traffic

Every morning felt like traffic
Brain full of static
Words automatic
Was there a thing you were searching for?
Or was all dramatics
The last conviction that I had was a fuck, and I need it
So we should take a ride
In a disguise
That makes you feel like a home
Away from home
A seasonal depression song
To sing alone
Till everybody remembers
how things could be better
So where do we begin
If a change in the wind
Could change your mind?
It’s like poetry
I felt the hair on my skin
Raising when you crashed in
To me
Where do we begin
When a change in the wind
Could change your mind?
Like it was meant to be
The way you crash into me

Your collar been switching between blue and white
Working on time working offline at the grocery
Now your wandering aisles and settling for smiles
Listening to outside
We took a ride in a disguise needed a home
Away from home
The seasonal depression song

Cus we’re at the hour where you had the power to leave me alone
So where do we begin
If a change in the wind
Could change your mind?
It’s like poetry
I felt the hair on my skin
Raising when you crashed in
To me
Where do we begin
When a change in the wind
Could change your mind?
Like it was meant to be
The way you crash into me

Ain’t no going back
We got collateral feelings for things we ain’t never been thru
Keep the traffic in mind
Remember that feeling
(Sax solo)

The Plot

They saying you as dry as ice
Spooky as you sound
Thinking you the only one in town
With a laugh like a mask
You were tryna get your way (yeah)
You in and out of my life like sunspots dancing on skin
Or better yet a scratch to win
Calling me drunk as fuck
In your home girl’s truck
So you who thinking of?
When the plot get tough
Was I crazy crazy crazy enough?
To keep it all a buck
When the plot gets tough
I ain’t never seen balance in rage
I ain’t never seen fights come in stages
So if you want that race car back
Quit tapping out like springs on a mattress
I’m relying on my face card so I can take part in
(We just wanna play ball)
We been lying our face cards knowing this all could be the end
In and out of my life like sunspots dancing on skin
Lucky as a scratch to win
But we better off drunk as fuck
In your homegirls truck
So you who thinking of?
When the plot get tough
Was I crazy crazy crazy enough?
To keep it all a buck
When the plot gets tough
Ouu Momma you spooky as you sound
Did it for the plot but a dream was found
(A dream was found)
Even if we run this to the ground
I did for the plot till the dream was
I did for the plot till the dream was
Found

Promises

Faking that you got love me is easy
But the hill you’re dying on isn’t breezy
Wasting the day away, calling me over but there’s nothing to say
There’s something about my past that you like
But opportunities come with lies
So I gave it to you straight in the moment

But I can tell that you don’t make promises
But I can’t let you go
I can’t let u go
I can’t tell that you don’t make promises
But I can let you go
I can’t let you go
(I don’t wanna run away)

You just wanna know that I need you
Initials on my flat you had keys to
But the villain in the story
Couldn’t make sense of what’s going on
You say there’s so much strength in your flaws
So we staying on chained to the cause
But only if you’re going where I go

Cus I can tell that you don’t make promises
But I can’t let you go
I can’t let u go
I can’t tell that you don’t make promises
But I can let you go
I can’t let you go

Did you really think it was easy
No one to trust moving on like a Mack truck
Every moment of bad luck
Got me thinking we matched up
But did you really offer much?
(Oh did you)

But I can tell that you don’t make promises
But I can’t let you go
I can’t let you go
I can’t tell that you don’t make promises
But I can let you go
I can’t let you go

Father Time

Like water to the beach
We right where we suppose to be on paper
But I can’t see the shore.
If we stuck in the woods, and I was lost for words
Would you tell me it’s a feeling I should savor?
I never felt this way before

Father Time is gone
But I feel home again
Even when you hold me back
I could be the hero you’ve always been
Even when I’m in pieces I’m all in
I was stuck in my brain
For what felt like days
The memories good and bad in ways where
I always needed more
But have you stopped to smell the flowers baby?

Father Time is gone
And I feel home again
Even when you hold me back
I could be the hero you’ve always been
Even when I’m in pieces I’m all
Father Time is gone

But I feel home again
Even when you hold me back
I could be the hero you’ve always been
Even when I’m in pieces I’m all in

Amber

There’s amber in the air
But you say you don’t care now
Giving em the stare down
While you sitting right next to me
It’s like a game how
You play truth or dare
Feels like you pulling the chair out
Right from under me
But you should know
When it comes to me
I’m take a…
Taking a dub
(No I’m not taking L’s no more)
I don’t wanna seem dramatic out of character but You something like a dove
More than a homie
There’s something in the way
You cover it up
See it in your face
I’m calling your bluff
Cus baby you know that you wanna
Stay with me

There’s amber in the air
Denim jackets flared out
Whistles blowing hair out
While you sitting right next to me
I wanna wear out
All them things you cared about
I’m not leaving no doubt or possibility
She just like a breeze without any sun
Where did you get that sweater from?
(I might have to put you on)
I don’t wanna seem dramatic out of character but you nothing like a dove
But more than the homie
There’s something in the way
You cover it up
See it in your face
I’m calling your bluff
Cus baby you know that you wanna
Stay with me

There’s something in the way
You cover it up
See it in your face
I’m calling your bluff
Cus baby you know that you wanna
Stay with me
There’s amber in the air
(Sitting right next to me)
The denim jackets flared
There’s amber in the air
Denim jackets flared out
Whistles blowing hair out
While you sitting right next to me

Smoke Break

It only took me a breath
To break you out your shell
Being stable, wouldn’t play right
Couldn’t be if I tried
30 minutes was the daily offering
Ain’t nothing was left
For me to pass the time
Mornings full of chain lines
We’re better when you talk to me
We taking 30 minutes in stride

But you don’t want to call it a smoke break
Even when you’re irate
But if you did it my way…
You know it might take long
(Might take long)
You were still looking at me sideways
Looking for another time waste,
But if I did it my way…
You know it might take longer
(Might take long)

It only took me a breath
Only took me a breath
Only took me a…
Breath to see
Don’t need nobody else stressing me
Only took me a breath to see your lips divide like there’s nothing to hide
We were breaking a sweat more than breaking the bank
I could tell you what’s really be happening
You still borrowing time but you
Keep me in mind
‘Cause we’re out to lunch now
Another 30 minutes in stride

But you don’t want to call it a smoke break
Even when you’re irate
But if I had it my way…
You know it could take long
(Could take long)
You were still looking at me sideways
Knowing what I might take
But if I did it my way…
You know it might take longer
(Might take long)

It only took me a breath
Only took me a breath
Only took me a…
Breath to see
Don’t need nobody else stressing me