Deadpan Love, the long-awaited debut album from celebrated singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Cautious Clay, is out today via The Orchard.
The album follows an arsenal of widely-acclaimed singles ‘Strange Love’ featuring rising Chicago rapper SABA, ‘Wildfire’, ‘Karma & Friends’, ‘Roots’, ‘Dying In The Subtlety’ and ‘Agreeable’.
Cautious Clay’s debut album, Deadpan Love wraps influences from R&B, hip hop and indie pop in Cautiousโ trademark sophisticated songwriting and jazz-and blues-inflected instrumentation. The album also finds Cautious collaborating with a host of notable co-writers including Tobias Jesso Jr. (Adele, HAIM), Jim-E Stack (Caroline Polachek, Empress Of), Daniel Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo, FINNEAS), Jesse Shatkin (Sia, Kelly Clarkson), Ammar Malik (Maroon 5, Halsey) and Sir Nolan (Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez), plus a collaboration with Chicago rapper Saba.ย
โDeadpan Love is something that I have inside me; the way I cope with the worst of what the world has to offer,โ says Cautious.
ย โSo much of life and relationships are spent in gray areasโwe mistreat the people we love and weโre friendly with the people we hate. This is an album about those complexities in friendship, investigating toxic behavior and self-worth.โย
Alongside the album release is a visualizer for ‘Shook’, a single off Deadpan Love.
Cautious Clay’s previously released singles from Deadpan Love has seen wide support across the region, having entered several music channels and radio programmes’ hit charts, as well as landing numerous notable media features, with singles ‘Wildfire’ and ‘Karma & Friends’ included in “Best New Tracks” on Hypebeast and AsiaLive365. The rhapsodic single, ‘Roots’, peaked at #2 on the Hard Rock FM (Indonesia) Top 41 Chart.
Cautious Clay is currently in production on the second season of the critically acclaimed Forest Whitaker drama Godfather of Harlem. Reprising his role as the leader of the Geechee Band from the first season, he will appear throughout the season and is working on original music for the show.
Since the release of his breakout debut single ‘Cold War’ three years ago, 28-year-old Cautious Clay has been on a whirlwind ride. Heโs released three EPsโTable of Context, RESONANCE, and debut Blood Type โthat have earned critical praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, TIME, Complex and many more. His songs have soundtracked key scenes in films like Olivia Wildeโs Booksmart and TV shows like Issa Raeโs Insecure and Selena Gomezโs 13 Reasons Why.
He was enlisted personally by GRAMMY-winning producer FINNEAS for a remix of Billie Eilishโs breakout ‘Ocean Eyes’, his music has been sampled by Taylor Swift (Lover), and heโs written songs with heavy hitters John Legend and John Mayer. His recent single ‘Cheesinโ’ saw him link up with a whoโs-who of next generation talentโClaud, Remi Wolf, Still Woozy, Sophie Meiers, Melanie Faye and HXNSโto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Cautious Clay currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.ย