REVIEW: Cautious Clay Brings ‘The Hours’ Tour to Bimbo’s 365 Club
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY ALEAH ANTONIO ☆
Photos By Cas Pascual
CAUTIOUS CLAY IS DUE FOR TWO ALBUMS THIS YEAR AND DOESN’T PLAN TO STOP—Spearhead Joshua Karpeh released his first iteration of The Hours earlier this year with The Hours: Morning. This Friday, he releases The Hours: Night after officially wrapping up his supporting tour with dates in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
On Tuesday night, Cautious Clay brought The Hours tour to Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco. Perched blocks away Fisherman’s Wharf, the venue is swanky and lofty, its GA section bordered with intimate cocktail tables. Shimmering gold and red velvet curtains hang off the walls, like the audience was being set up for a jazz show.
The performance that Karpeh brought to San Francisco wasn’t far off—He played with a full band and brought his true Ohio funk roots to an unplugged-vibe set. His band, energetic and technically talented, brought the new Cautious Clay songs to life in a way that could only be experienced live. Karpeh himself is a multi-talented instrumentalist, switching between his guitar, saxophone, tambourine, and flute all on his own.
Opening with “The Plot (8AM),” each song almost felt like a jam rather than a studio version played live. The band would often drift into solos of their own, and Karpeh added in fun variations that aren’t in his recordings. The performance reminded me of Denzel Curry’s jazz-inspired rework of Melt My Eyez See Your Future, full of life and imagination.
“What’s important is that I put the songs out and play them in a way that I would like them to be played,” Karpeh says to the crowd.
After the first few songs, he says hi to the crowd and is on a tangent about how long it’s been since he last toured. Before The Hours: Morning, he released KARPEH, a dive into his family roots. He’s perhaps most known for 2021’s Deadpan Love, some of which he played that night (“Agreeable” and “Dying in the Subtlety”), and Blood Type, whose song “Cold War” put him on the map.
Now based in Philadelphia, P.A., the artist was a bit jetlagged and seemed a bit anxious on stage. “Y’all don’t hate me, right?” he asked the crowd halfway through his set. Nervous about what is a bit of a mystery—the crowd was dancing, singing along, enthusiastic about every aspect of the performance. They clapped at the appropriate times, cheered authentically for an encore (in which Cautious Clay played “Another Half”). He would pause multiple times during his set to temperature check the crowd, who vibed to every song in awe.
This tour, originally planned across 14 cities, got cut down to just 8 after “logistical challenges” forced the band to change their tour routes. With The Hours: Night coming very soon and more music on the way, hopefully Cautious Clay returns to the stage again on his own terms to share the music exactly how he envisions it.
