Clock Watchers is my one-man slab of soul-music alter ego from Inverness, Calif. Following a prolific 2020 with the release of two albums and an EP, I’m excited to announce last week’s release of my newest album, False Profit. The first of a two-part concept album, it investigates the history of a seemingly idyllic place that lies dormant.

I’m a 19-year-old singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer who grew up in West Marin and created Clock Watchers after growing tired of the hypocrisy of society’s surface-level do-goodery. A former student at Marin School of the Arts, I draw from traditional influences to create music that is anything but, blending the musicianship of a jazz pianist with the raw, emotional expression of ’70s and ’80s rock ‘n roll. With False Profit, I fuse my own unique sound with heavy sampling in deep-fried songs that explore half-baked philosophies. Clock Watchers is unafraid to assimilate musical icons of the past and future, rearranging them into something entirely of our time.

The album’s 22 songs are a reflection of where they were created: a room that feels like a mad musical emporium, filled with guitars, basses, a grand piano, a theramin, a key-tar, synthesizers, drums and untold trinkets. False Profit’s singular purpose is to make sure the listener is listening. Rest assured, I’m enjoying making the music too, but my goal is to utilize an artistic identity to acknowledge and confront the societally conditioned laziness that has seeped into my community and my own life.

At its core, False Profits is a reflection on the presumptive normalcy of an increasingly dystopian world, as expressed through a comfortable regurgitation of the sad tropes of our time. This aesthetic is on full display in the song “These Nutz Roll Deeper,” with the rambling line, “I’m impartial, unparalleled, babe. But those off the deep end must be fucking insane.” The influences of Tyler the Creator, Danny Brown, 100 Gecs and Frank Zappa fuse with my experiences of the people and places of West Marin. My work would not be possible without two individuals: Zappa’s bassist Scott Thunes, who briefly mentored me and to whom I’m eternally grateful, and David Pasecoe, who has helped me with the more technical aspects of what it means to be a musician. I hope you will hear something faintly familiar but entirely fresh from my new Clock Watchers release. Find it on Spotify and Apple Music, and watch it on YouTube.