Review Summary: With their debut, Jars of Clay chart a course few of their contemporaries followed.
Let’s face it, most mainstream Christian bands are not very good. This isn’t necessarily for lack of trying, or even lack of talent; it’s got a lot more to do with the constraints of the Nashville-based industry. The CCM machine is heavily predisposed toward generating safe, accessible music ready for play on Christian radio stations.
But this wasn’t always the case. Christian music was quite a bit more varied back in the 90s, and took risks that most mainstream artists wouldn’t consider today. There are plenty of creative Christian bands outside the industry - like As Cities Burn, My Epic, and a whole cadre of hardcore and metalcore acts. But none of these bands could reasonably be considered famous (though many are successful in their subgeneres.)
Jars of Clay was a band that broke all of these conventions when their self-titled album came out in 1995. They didn’t sound like grunge or other alternative bands, or like much of anything else CCM was cooking up at the time. Driven by a unique combination of drum loops, alternate-tuned acoustic guitar strumming, and organic string accompaniment, Jars of Clay not only succeeded within the realm of Christian music but thrived outside of it, touring with secular acts on the heels of their sudden success.
Much of it is thanks to “Flood,” a crossover radio hit that made Jars of Clay as close to a household name as any Christian band ever managed. The song contains most of the album’s characteristic elements: churning acoustic guitar chords, earnest vocals, and bursts of elegant strings. The product is a refreshing diversion from the tendencies of CCM to ape whatever popular mainstream artists were doing five years ago.
Interestingly, the rest of the album makes an even better case for Jars’ artistic merit, even if the band’s creativity outstrips its songwriting ability on occasion. The album’s sole problem is a bit subjective: it does sound dated, and there’s no mistaking it for a product of any era other than the 1990s. This is largely due to the group’s reliance on drum loops; consisting of singer Dan Haseltine, guitarists Matt Odmark and Stephen Mason, and pianist Charlie Lowell, the band didn’t even have a proper drummer, making the loops seem like a natural choice. But the loops sound very 90s, and don’t always sound like the best choice for the songs. The record is at its best when it sounds the least 90s, and at its weakest when it does.
That small criticism, though, is more than remedied by the strings. Ever hear a perfectly decent rock song transformed into supermarket radio pablum by unnecessary, ingratiating strings? Of course you have. That’s why it’s so refreshing how Jars use string accompaniment on their songs, which often take a lead role that might otherwise be filled by electric guitar. The strings fit in so naturally that the impression created is of string players performing together with the band in the same room, in a loose manner that often comes out around the edges of the songs. Compared to the more usual phenomenon - some broad orchestration slapped on a recording after the fact - the accompaniment has a sense of intimacy that’s fairly unique.
Most of the record’s best songs are ones where the strings get a chance to shine. “Like a Child” and “Boy on a String” are energetic and thrilling, with “Blind” being perhaps the most subtly beautiful track and a fitting conclusion (sort of, considering the hidden tracks.) Jars of Clay is lyrically refreshing as well. The lyrics are often overtly Christian, but elegant and thoughtful, as exemplified by “Art in Me.” Easy to overlook is “He,” which wraps its uncomfortable themes of parental abuse in shimmering electric guitars to make one of the album’s best songs. The band deftly avoids the malignant cheesiness of many other Christian bands by making a unique-sounding album that almost anybody could enjoy.
It would be plausible for Jars of Clay to sneak onto the scene with an album like this, only to be sublimated into the CCM hive-mind on subsequent releases. But fortunately, the band successfully reinvents their sound over and over, usually staying a few steps outside what their peers are doing. It’s satisfying to look back and see this self-titled debut as the first chapter in a rich and rewarding career.
