Year One by Clark Beckham

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Year One EP – Clark Beckham All week we have been giving you an inside look into Clark Beckham and what makes this artist so unique, talented, and overall N.U quality badass. Rolled out a sick Magazine Cover courtesy Casey Moore. Then we hit you with our exclusive interview on our Red Couch Late Night ...

Year One EP – Clark Beckham

All week we have been giving you an inside look into Clark Beckham and what makes this artist so unique, talented, and overall N.U quality badass. Rolled out a sick Magazine Cover courtesy Casey Moore. Then we hit you with our exclusive interview on our Red Couch Late Night w/ Amber Stoneman. A video review of Must Be Hard Being You along with a song review of I Need. So today we’re deciding to introduce you to the EP that dropped last fall, Year One.

Gimmie 5

Year One is an Ep comprised of 5 tracks. The one’s you’d want to hear when you’re having a perfect morning sipping coffee at your local bistro or at your favorite low key music music spot in New Orleans. The success to any project is creating songs different enough to stand out from one another, yet have a way of flowing seamlessly together. Clark perfectly achieves this balance through these songs, but as well the placement. Placement gets forgotten about when creating any project and these songs create a great back and forth energy dynamic along.

Ebbs & Flows

I talked a bit about ebbs & flows in my review of I Need, so I figured I’d bring the term back around as it seemed fitting. The EP starts with the upbeat, grab your partner and get to the dance floor, Must Be Hard Being You. This is a fun song to listen to and enjoy. I have a whole article on it so I won’t spend much time on this one. Go read it if you want more analysis ;). He takes us from an upbeat song like that and slows it down with Hocus Pocus. This song gives us ambient guitar licks and synth pads with some jazz style bass with chimes tossed it. We get a different look into the softer side of Clarks vocals and it’s sexy.

From there we’re taken to the 3rd track, James & Natalie. This song takes us back up from the coffee shop, chill productions to a little more energetic & pop driven. We get some organs and acoustic guitar that blends that in, but this song we can bob our heads to. The drum kicks are fastest & hardest hitting in the whole EP. Clark gives us a song about a man (James) who can’t write a song until he comes across this girl (Natalie). Through the song thier relationship grows as James eventually hits it big because of the song he wrote for her. Each story is separated by the chorus which is the “melody” James wrote for Natalie. Kind of beautiful, no? Isn’t love the greatest!!

Closing Number

The last songs in the record are I Need & Sleep. Just like the lead off single, there is a whole article dedicated to I Need so you lovely humans go click that and get the whole gist if that song. In summery, we’re dropped back into a slower, relaxed production that puts the focus on the vocals. Without a chorus, Clark takes us through up and down energy of what he “Needs” in life.

Finally we’re given the last song Sleep. With the song opening to soft electric guitar that Clark songs to the melody of, we’re given a muted drum kick & snare with building violins in the chorus that gives a little energy to this song. The guitar riffs and shaker, with a cymbal crash every now again creates the perfect background to tell the story of finding someone you love someone so much you don’t even want to go to sleep to be with them; “So don’t you worry I won’t fall asleep ’cause it’s you I need“.

Rice’s Reaction

Year One is an EP filled with beautiful storytelling of finding love, love, and love that wasn’t meant to be. I already alluded to it in the I Need article but his ability to wrap the listener into what he’s saying is amazing. With every song my brain is taking a blank canvas on an easel and turning it into a visual masterpiece. It’s taking a blank book and filling it full of words that describe everything he’s saying in even more detail. Songwriting like that is something by itself to be appreciated. Let alone in a world where Hip-Hop and Pop seem to reign supreme to the masses, the production of this record is more of what I need in my life. That’s coming from the guy who works in Hip-Hop & Rap. I love music.

So when I hear a record like this filled with guitars, piano, violins, chimes, bells, and so many other instruments my heart gets warmed up. He’s got new music on the way at the end of August along with a live show here in Nashville on the 28th at Mercy Lounge that I am stoked to hear. If you’re not a fan of him already, hopefully after this week and listening for yourself you are now!!