Cautious Clay announces his Blue Note Records debut album KARPEH

Following on from the album's lead single, "Ohio", Cautious Clay shares the new single, "Another Half", which features guitarist Julian Lage.

Cautious Clay sequenced the album thematically in three sections with interludes throughout containing audio recordings of his relatives recounting bits of family history. The first section he calls “The Past Explained” with songs that touch upon his early experiences growing up in Cleveland.

The middle section of the album is what Cautious Clay calls “The Honeymoon of Exploration.” These five songs depict some of his experiences with psychedelics, which inspired self-reflection and the desire for deeper forms of intimacy with others. The concluding four songs constitute the third thematic section, which Cautious Clay calls “A Bitter & Sweet Solitude.” He posits that when we allow ourselves to spend quality time in solitude it enables us to forge better relationships with ourselves and others, therefore sparking deeper intimacy.

On KARPEH, Cautious Clay invites a wide range of collaborators into the fold including leading lights of the modern jazz world including Lage, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, keyboardist Julius Rodriguez, bassist Joshua Crumbly, and drummer Sean Rickman. Other guests on the album include his uncle, bassist Kai Eckhardt, and the acclaimed Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab.

Across the album’s 15 tracks Cautious can be heard on vocals, flute, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, guitar, synthesizer, and bass.

For all of Cautious Clay's dexterity around multiple instruments, it’s always in service of the music’s narratives. “I wanted it to be musical for the sake of telling a story,” he explains. “Throughout this album, I am equating my life's journey to an amalgamation of my family's past life experiences, an exploration of my present, and how those pieces will influence by future.”

KARPEH follows on from Cautious Clay's 2019 album, Deadpan Love.

Tracklist:

1. 102 Years of Comedy (Intro)
2. Fishtown
3. Ohio
4. Karpehs Don’t Flinch
5. The Tide Is My Witness
6. Take a Half (a Feeling We Chase)
7. Another Half (with Julian Lage)
8. Repeat Myself
9. Glass Face (with Kai Eckhardt & Arooj Aftab)
10. Walls & a Roof (Interlude)
11. Unfinished House (with Julian Lage)
12. Blue Lips (with Julian Lage)
13. Tears of Fate
14. Yesterday’s Price (with Immanuel Wilkins and Ambrose Akinmusire)
15. Moments Stolen