What Steven A. Clark does is difficult to classify. Sure, “Can’t Have,” the lead single from his debut LP The Lonely Roller, skitters along on machine-built drums and is spangled by sparkling synths, and Clark himself croons and ad-libs expertly. But it lacks a certain something, the ineffable, showy confidence that undergirds Drake, say, or The Weeknd, even at their most vulnerable. You don’t get the sense that Clark is playing a character, or that he’s terribly interested in the way he comes across. Calling it R&B seems inaccurate, but calling Clark a singer/songwriter seems reductive; troubadours rarely know their way around an 808. His non-performative heartache in “Can’t Have”—and the way he haunts the video’s main characters as they fall in love and subsequently grow apart—grant the song a subtle emotional twinge that’ll threaten to wreck your Tuesday morning. Give it a watch below.
Clark also announced a run of dates with Sinkane, which kick off on November 10 in Philadelphia. Those dates are below.
November
10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
11 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
12 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott
13 – Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Art Space
14 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
15 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
18 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake Underground
20 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Café
21 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
22 – Cincinnati, OH
24 – Columbus, OH
25 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
The Lonely Roller is out September 18 on Secretly Canadian.
