Cautious Clay

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. After moving to Philadelphia following the release of his last album — the jazzy and
autobiographical KARPEH — time spent in Brooklyn, the city where Cautious Clay bloomed into the
project it is today, became much more precious and ritual became a necessity. Pushing the limits of a
freeform existence that once felt natural, Karpeh began to build a schedule that prioritized time outside of
the studio in which he’s spent most of the past decade. The new confines provided infrastructure for
focused creativity, and soon enough, he 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.” Vacillating from bleary-eyed to bombastic, The
Hours: Morning interprets daybreak as something more conversational than intensely personal. Armed
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.