Live Review: Cautious Clay shares a daring debut with his 'Blood Type' EP

It hasn't been long since his debut single 'Cold War', yet New York producer CAUTIOUS CLAY aka Josh Karpeh has treated us to his debut EP, titled Blood Type.

With the aforementioned 'Cold War' and later cut 'Joshua Tree', Cautious Clay wasn't shy about his unique blend of dreamy electronics with RnB/hip-hop production. He was featured on Zane Lowe's prestigious Beats 1 and named a Soundcloud Artist to Watch in 2018. Blood Type features 6 tracks and sees Cautious Clay living up to the hype he's built himself thus far.

As a blend of hip-hop and RnB, Blood Type is totally unique. Where tracks of that ilk tend to be somewhat minimal, focusing on beats and vocal accompaniment, Cautious Clay submerges the listener in a sea of reverb soaked vocals and synths, all while those familiar elements keep the listener grounded. Sort of like Causers of This era Toro Y Moi combined with the varied production of an artist like Post Malone. 'Joshua Tree' is a perfect example; morphing between a minimal verse of affected singing and a simple beat and a wall of layered vocals during the chorus, Clay shows remarkable finesse in flexing his two styles. 'Juliet + Caesar' is more languid and emotional, bumping along at a walking pace that rarely lets up, yet treating the listener to some jazzy saxophone and soulful vocals as a reprieve from the heavy electronics.

'Elsewhere' is a solid closer, combining some melancholic acoustic (and occasional electric) guitar with a minimal, bass-heavy beat and plenty of vocal layers. The way it builds up to the explosion in the last third before calming down as quickly as it began sort of evokes Blood Type as a whole: its a constantly evolving flash-in-the-pan that zips by, inviting you to listen again and again to truly understand all the layers and ideas. Cautious Clay has delivered on the hype he built with his debut singles on Blood Type, and we can't wait to hear what he does next. All we know is, it'll be something truly special.

IMAGE BY AMOS ADAMS

WORDS BY MAX LEWIS

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