Scott Clay delves deep into the life of a committed modern musician with all of the highs and lows in his new album Jade, which hit streaming services May 17th.
The album follows its two singles, “One for the Road,” which released in February, and “The Painter” in April. Jade is Clay’s sixth studio album, consisting of eleven songs from the Nashville-based Americana singer-songwriter, ranging from grateful and optimistic, to confessional and emotional.
Clay’s deeply emotive vocals, combined with his acoustic guitar are taken into a whole different realm with the inclusion of the organ, which makes an appearance on select tracks. This with other intricate and often subtle instrumental nuances combined make up his signature style, which shines in this album.
One of the album’s more hopeful tracks is “Wildfire”, which describes the high points of travel and love with its high-energy guitar riff and lyrics like, “Our hearts on fire / We’re bound to make things brighter.” The liveliness of “Wildfire” is immediately followed by “Walk You Home,” which progresses the story of the previous track into a heartfelt proclamation of devotion decorated by angelic harmonies and sweetly simple lyrics like, “If you’re ever feeling low / I’ll take you by the hand / I’ll hold you close.”
The love that was so joyful in the two tracks mentioned above is tested in the powerful ballad, “Burning for You,” which describes the inner monologue of someone whose partner is struggling and growing distant. The song is a perfectly precarious battle between outward and inward anger as it explores the tensions between love and mental health. “You chose a living hell and not your health / I may never know the demons that you had to face,” he sings.
All of the styles of the album’s previous songs are turned on their head in “World Gone Crazy,” which adopts a very funky sound with echoing vocals, hypnotic harmonies, and disco-esque beats. The song captures a truly classic 70s style that demands dancing. “Everyone is conspiring against me / You got me livin’ in a world gone crazy… and I’ve gone crazy too.”
The album’s title track, “Jade,” is a powerful acoustic guitar ballad about staying up late in a far-away city, feeling lost and alone. The song describes having a life where everything seems perfect from the outside, but in reality, everything is out of place. Clay expresses this with lines like, “With everything that’s wrong, what could be right / Paradise seems out of sight / Laid out on this dusty hotel floor.”
Jade takes listeners through a wide range of stories and emotions that are universal and powerful all at once. Clay uses his poignant lyrics and instrumentation to translate his experiences as a musician into stories of love and fear that everyone can relate to.
Clay has returned from his winter UK tour, and is now performing in Tennessee and Colorado to promote the album.
