Showcasing their brilliant style in their melancholy avant-garde pop EP is CLAY with “holy silence ‘fore the spring”. This conceptual collection of tracks are the second instalment to their three-part EP series. This is the follow-up to the second official single from the EP, titled “poison (demo)”.
CLAY (she/they) is a singer-songwriter born and raised in the flower-child city of San Francisco. She isn’t afraid of tackling tough topics in their music, from politics to social justice, and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she’s vocal in their support for everyone’s rights. Their music has hit out at some of the most critical times in history, with their most-streamed Spotify song, “Orange”, tackling Trump at the height of his power, and the track continues to gain huge streams, currently standing at 13.7 million streams, on the platform. CLAY cares deeply about advocacy, community, integrity, and unity, which are all undeniably heard in their music releases. She continues to be a huge force in the music industry, growing their fans, and last year saw them team up with Tinder for a worldwide brand partnership campaign that promoted queer love. On top of that, 2021 saw their music featured on the TV series The L Word: Generation Q as well as The Chi. Their artistry within the music industry just shows how much the world needs artists like CLAY.
Talking about this EP, CLAY said: “In this latest body of work, I write from a place in time when the days are short and the air is still crisp, but the sun is starting to peak through the clouds, the time I call the ‘holy silence ‘fore the spring,’”
Stream “holy silence ‘fore the spring” by CLAY on Spotify here:
Not holding back from the get-go, CLAY introduces us to the melancholic vibe that she has going on, with the initial title track, which effortlessly showcases their beautiful vocals that are wrapped around a whimsical nature-inspired backing track. This then rolls into the second track, “jaemie” which acts as the lead single from the EP, that opens up their soulful voice with CLAY flooding the track with emotion as the lyrics dive into a thankful story-telling vibe about how this Jaemie helped them when they were going through hell – we all need people like that in our lives. This track really comes from the heart and makes an impact on the listener, especially during the second half of the song when CLAY impresses with vocal strength filled with incredible honesty as the backing track switches more in line with indie-pop-rock.
The third track on the EP is “poison”, which strips back the sound to their wandering melancholy atmospheric vibe as their soft twang of a vocal mixes well with the rhythmic track. The chorus adds harmonies which emphasise the meaning behind the lyrics about toxicity in love and relationships. The interlude follows next, titled “lonely hours”, where CLAY surprises us with an upbeat indie-pop track that’s sultry and sensual which starts off subtle but builds both vocally and sonically with their lyrics starting right at the beginning, mentioning a woman that she is into.
“letting you go” is the fifth track on “holy silence ‘fore the spring” EP, which stands out overall as the track focuses on CLAY’s gorgeous voice which is accompanied by a soft backing track and unforgettable harmonies during the chorus. She completely shines on this track, telling the story of saying goodbye to someone she loves; soulful and emotional, this is the one that will give listeners chills. The final track is the outro song, titled “darkest night”, a catchy lyrical melody is heard throughout with CLAY determined to leave a lasting impression in one’s head and wanting to be your light on your darkest night. The track, overall, attempts to take the essence of a pitch-black dark night, and plant it into the track, creating a very artful vision, with CLAY’s vocals shining and glowing like a light during a dark night – what a way to end this EP!
Stream our favourite track from the EP “jaemie” on Spotify here:
“holy silence ‘fore the spring”, the latest EP from CLAY, is available to download and stream, right now, across all platforms. This is the second instalment of a three-part EP series, following the first EP she dropped in the series, titled “Breathing into Bloom”, which she dropped in 2022. It saw them collaborate with Alessia Cara, as well as producers The Wildcardz, STINT, and Yakob, amongst others.
“I have such a deep reverence for nature and often find myself drawn to write about it. We as human beings are so deeply connected to nature,” CLAY expresses. “I find that the more I delve within my depths, into hidden memories, that bring me pain or shame or joy, musings or new ways of thinking that make me pause and ask questions, I continually find nature reflected back to me. I revel in the way my body changes with the phase of the moon, my mood lifts with the sun, how cloud cover, rain, snow, makes me feel lethargic and heavy.”