Clay Kirchenbauer – Creation EP

By Ryan G

Words: Ryan Getz

Listening to Clay Kirchenbauer’s Creation EP has the potential to be a profoundly spirtual experience for anyone who dares to take it in with their full attention.

If Clay’s name rings a bell it’s because he used to front The Undeserving, a band that was in my mind as “that band I keep seeing in Falling Up’s top friends on their MySpace page.” When I met the dudes in Riley Wildmen (formerly Last of the Wildmen), which included several former members of the Undeserving including Clay’s brother Kyle I thrilled to meeting dudes with any connection (no matter how remote) to one of favorite bands of all time.

The brief EP serves as a homage to the Creator and is a poignant bit of music. Poignant, all the more so, in light of blog posts I’ve been reading by Clay in light of his struggles with The Undeserving. For a low key guy from a country town to experience all the worst sides of the American music industry and come out on the other side with strong faith speaks volumes. The whole of the EP gives me a feeling of watching a sunset. You’re caught in a place between darkness and beauty, but all you can do in the moment is appreciate the beauty. Clay makes a somewhat risky move in having a reprise of a song in a short EP, but given the mood set, it doesn’t seem redundant. In fact, I’m kind of glad the EP is short because I’m not sure I can stay in this set of mind for terribly long!

In all seriousness, you can tell put a lot of work into this and that there is a fair bit of influence from Gungor, whom I’ve gathered via a bit of Facebook stalking to be one of his favorite bands. I also hear a bit of the mellower side of Future of Forestry as well – especially with the string section and ambient drawn out notes strewn across the EP. “Lights in the Sky” is particularly effective.

There are plenty of gems to be found in the side of the industry where artists aren’t as outwardly active, and Clay Kirchenbauer’s Creation EP is one of them.

[youtube]https://claykmusic.bandcamp.com/album/creation-ep[/youtube]

Score: 4/5

Clay Kirchenbauer: bandcamp | Facebook

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