Winter time is actually a great season to listen to beachy, sunny music. Especially at this point.
In that case, Los Angeles musician Pete Cautious’ self-titled debut album, is a nice surprise.
One of the album’s lead singles is the high-flying, wavy guitars and synths of “Dreamin’ On a Sunday,” featuring his wife, Stephanie Koenig, on backup vocals. The couple recorded the song in one day.
The single is a good example of Cautious’ free-wheeling style: electric guitar; synths and Casio keys; psych rock-influenced, yet experimentation at the same time.
“Most of the album was recorded as a stream of consciousness,” Cautious says.
“There was a bare-bones structure,” he adds, “usually a synth and simple drum track, and the rest I would just roll the tape and see what happened.”
In addition, he played all of the instruments himself, as well as recorded and mixed all of the songs.
“[It’s] like a tight rope walk without a net. I’m never sure what I’ll stumble upon.”
Another song on the album is the warm and ringing “I’m Your Man.” The song floats on calming keys, drum beats and Cautious’ unique vocals. The brighter, ambling summer track “The Only Girl” and the jazz-inspired, sax-backed, “Go On Shine,” are other stand out tracks.
In summation, this is a great album, with more tracks than I could write about right now. It’s perfect for fans of sunny, synthy, atmospheric guitar rock with components of punk, pop, psych, and dance.
I’d say Pete Cautious is an artist to watch in 2020.
