Review
Genre and Mood
Claptone and Say Yes Dog meet on Before I Lose My Mind, a house track that leans towards pop: a groovy club pulse with a song on top, and a title that promises longing before a note is played.
Song Summary
The track first appeared as the B-side of Heartbeat, the 2016 single from Claptone’s debut album Charmer. Claptone’s own channel announced it as a previously unreleased B-side featuring the Berlin indie-pop outfit Say Yes Dog. EDMtunes called it an all-new original, a blended piece with pop and house influences that showcased Claptone’s skills at the keys, and found it quite refreshing.
Musical Breakdown
No source describes Before I Lose My Mind section by section, so this breakdown stays with the few things the coverage does name.
The Keys
Claptone plays keyboard on the track, and EDMtunes heard his playing as the showcase of the piece.
The Vocals
Say Yes Dog, in EDMtunes’ words, lend their voices on the final layer of the EP. Who in the trio sings which line, the sources do not say.
Two Lengths
The video here carries the 5:36 version that Exploited released on 28 March 2016. The yearbook’s recording is the 3:25 version that Different Recordings released on 8 April 2016, with its own ISRC.
Concepts in Focus
A <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist brings something the main artist does not have. Here it is a band: Say Yes Dog, a German-Luxembourgish trio of Aaron Ahrends, Paul Rundel and Pascal Karier, at home in synth-pop rather than in clubs. Claptone did the same with an American indie band on Claptone, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Ghost.
The two releases show the logic of the radio edit: the same track cut from more than five and a half minutes to under three and a half for radio and streaming rather than for DJs. What the shorter cut leaves out, no source spells out. Compare Clara Moto – Gone by the Morning - Radio Edit.
Claptone’s stage persona is a golden beaked mask resembling a plague doctor’s, worn with white gloves. According to Wikipedia it conceals his identity and arouses intrigue, and little is known about who is behind it; there are even rumours that Claptone is more than one person.
Artistic Context
Claptone is based in Berlin and gained recognition in 2013 with No Eyes, featuring Jaw. Charmer came out on Different Recordings in October 2015, and its single Heartbeat, sung by Nathan Nicholson of The Boxer Rebellion, came back in 2016 with a Doorly remix of Anything and this new B-side. Say Yes Dog had released their debut album, Plastic Love, the year before.
Impact and Reception
Beyond the EP coverage, no review of the track on its own could be found, which is the usual fate of a B-side. It travelled anyway: in December 2016 it was also included on the Exploited compilation Shir Khan Presents Exploited 2016 Ffwd Rwd. It is here because it is a small, refreshing surprise in Claptone’s catalogue. Press play, and hear what happens when a masked house producer lets a band sing.
