Before “Jar of Flies” was released, Alice in Chains were in a very rough spot. During the tour for their best-selling album, “Dirt,” bassist Mike Starr had gotten kicked from the tour and the band itself due to his repeated substance abuse, with Mike Inez joining soon after. Then, after the tour ended, the band came back to their home in Seattle only to find out that they had been evicted from their home, due to their failure to pay rent. The band was homeless, and were forced to move into the London Bridge Studio within Seattle.
Luckily, before the tour had ended, the band had called producer Toby Wright to propose a possible collaboration, in which Wright booked ten days at that same studio for him and the band to work, and also see how the band liked working with Inez. While there were not any full songs completely planned before the studio session had began, there were fragments of their created, along with a certain motivation to go about finishing their writing and creation.
There was a specific desire to split off from their usual grunge-rock approach to their sound, and instead maintain their focus on a much more acoustic sound, using electrified acoustic guitars along with being recorded live to sound that way. Drummer Sean Kinney had also specifically used softer and smaller drums with different drumming techniques in order to maintain that quieter sound.
As an EP, “Jar of Flies” actually represents a sort-of continuation from their other EP created in 1992, “Sap,” as each album is dominated with way more acoustics and quieter instruments. Although some may find the overall tone of “Jar of Flies” to be much more fleshed out than others, which can be seen in highlights like “Rotten Apple” or “Nutshell.”
Additionally, the album’s instrumentation and lyrics have such a grim tone to them, some songs almost provoking a feeling of hopelessness within the listener.
The most popular and emotional song off the EP would have to be “Nutshell,” with its iconically emotional acoustic melody and droning electric guitar, and lyrics portraying depression and loneliness in a way that feels much more emotional considering lead singer Layne Staley’s unfortunate passing through an overdose in 2002. It feels like the golden standard for the rest of the songs coming forth, and a powerful statement on someone’s hopeless view of humanity through their experiences.
“I Stay Away” keeps up this sort of narrative with seemingly two characters, one telling the other that they will stay away, because their lack of love for the other is clearly too painful. It may not seem like this at first though, with the song sounding a lot higher in energy compared to “Nutshell.” Compared to that track, “I Stay Away” feels filled to the brim on its instrumental, with yet again another fantastic guitar melody that just builds and builds with the edition of the backing violin, and the brutal sounding electric guitars that sound perfectly grimy.
This sort of palette also makes a return in the one instrumental interlude around halfway through the album, that being “Whale & Wasp.” If the electric guitars on “I Stay Away” feel low and grimy, the one on this track is the opposite, piercing the ears of any listener who dares to pay attention too closely. The violins make a return as well, and help create such an oddly beautiful little piece before the last two songs on the EP.
However, while up to “Don’t Follow” the tone stays immaculately in place, the outro track, “Swing On This,” does create a sudden shift that may or may not turn off some listeners, and music-wise it does feel really out of place from the rest of the tracks on this EP. It has much more of a groovy, almost funk feel to it, with a bass melody climbing up and cascading down in its rhythm.
It does create a sense of resolve within the lyrical content of the entire EP, though. We start this album with “Rotten Apple,” with its dark and descriptive lyrics that portray the dark and miserable world that Staley sees, and how it affects him mentally. From then on we see him or this “character” tackling and interacting with this perception, but only resorting to being alone and disassociating with others. If the prior track feels like this character is finally running away, “Swing On This” is the reassurance that he will be okay by doing this, and that this is what he wants.
This itself could lead to some much darker interpretations of what this song really means, but that may be up to the listener.
“No Excuses” is also a bit of a tone switch, however it is a little bit less of a switch than “Swing On This” is. Also, depending on how you look at the lyrical themes, this song does maintain the lyrical tone, and still sounds much darker than “Swing.” Not to mention this track has yet again fantastic vocals and an infectious drum line that spirals all throughout the song.
A personal highlight from this album would have to be “Rotten Apple” though, the intro that starts off the project. As said before, it begins this rough journey with a fantastic tone-setter, feeling somewhat jovial in its darkness as Staley describes a picture of a world that has become corrupted, losing its innocence and becoming seemingly gross and rotted, like as the title symbolizes. This goes along with these overlapping guitars and what seems to be a droning talk box that vocalizes throughout its seven minute runtime. On top of all this, the crowded gang vocals sung by Staley add onto the tone this sets so well, singing the lyrics with a ghostly and ominous vocal progression, which is used a lot within the EP, for instance, tracks like “I Stay Away” and “Don’t Follow.”
“Jar of Flies” is an interesting subversion of the grunge genre, taking a much darker tone within its constantly ominous or melancholic instrumentation. It also is held in such high regard for its nihilistic perspective of the world and its issues through the perspective of someone dealing with them headfirst. It is a powerful statement from the 90’s that will surely leave an impact on anyone who reciprocates an amount of the feelings that Alice In Chains shares throughout this EP, leading to it being an eight and a half to a nine out of ten.