Inland (2013)
Inland is the eleventh and final full-length studio album by the American rock band Jars of Clay. It was independently released on August 27, 2013 on their own record label Gray Matters.
Jars of Clay returned with their first full-length studio album in nearly three years after their last studio release The Shelter. Between The Shelter and this release, the band had released a series of live EPs titled Live At Gray Matters and more EPs such as their holiday release More Christmas Songs and Reinvent, Remember, Repeat featuring re-worked acoustic songs of their tracks. Jars of Clay went to Portland, Oregan in July 2012 working on Inland and working with Tucker Martine as producer at a studio called Flora Recording & Playback. Overdubs were done at the band's studio Gray Matters. The project represents a sonic maturation for the group, blending their signature acoustic-alternative rock roots with horns, violins, and ambient melodies.
Lyrically, Inland acts as a creative manifesto exploring what love looks like in the modern age, focusing heavily on themes of human vulnerability, everyday uncertainty, and spiritual longing. The title track features the recurring imagery of an ocean sailor burning their ship to head inland to find community and a place to belong ("where no man is an island"). Some tracks were released to promote the album: "Love In Hard Times" was a bonus track and was packaged with the purchased with their live EP Under the Weather, which they released earlier in the year. The title song was released as a promotional single through Rolling Stone magazine on June 17, 2013. The next day, the track "After the Fight" was released as the first and only single. On August 20, 2013, Jars of Clay let Billboard, on their website, stream Inland in its entirety. In somewhat of a full circle moment, Adrian Belew, who produced the band's 1995 breakthrough hit "Flood," played additional guitar on "After the Fight." A music video was made for the track "Fall Asleep."
Inland charted and peaked on the following Billboard album charts:
-No. 2 Top Christian Albums
-No. 70 Billboard 200
-No. 20 Top Rock & Alternative Albums
-No. 11 Top Alternative Albums
-No. 14 Top Independent Albums
Jars of Clay earned their final Dove Award nomination for Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year in October 2014. After the release of Inland, as its remix EP Inlandia, the band's activities were limited throughout the 2010s as each band member were pursuing individual projects outside the band. They continued to release music (mostly EPs) and perform sporadically.
Track listing
All songs written by Jars of Clay, except where noted.
1. After the Fight -4:32
2. Age of Immature Mistakes -3:53
3. Reckless Forgiver -3:53
4. Human Race -3:57
5. Love In Hard Times -4:32
6. Pennsylvania -4:33
7. Loneliness & Alcohol -4:45
8. I Don't Want You to Forget -3:50
9. Fall Asleep -4:45
10. Skin & Bones -3:49
11. Left Undone -3:59
12. Inland (Jars of Clay, Nathan Barlowe) -4:13
Personnel
Jars of Clay:
Dan Haseltine -lead vocals, handclaps on track 4
Charlie Lowell -keyboards, piano, backing vocals, handclaps on track 4
Stephen Mason -guitars, backing vocals, handclaps on track 4
Matt Odmark -guitars, backing vocals, handclaps on track 4
additional musicians:
Adrian Belew -additional guitar on track 5
Matt Chamberlain -drums
Michael Finn -handclaps on track 4
Mitch Dane -vibraslap on track 12
Nathaniel Smith -cello on track 9
Jeremy Kittle -string arrangements, violin, viola (tracks 2, 6, 7 and 9)
John Mark Painter -horns and arrangements on track 12
Previous release: Under the Weather (Live in Sellersville, PA) (EP) (2013)
Next release: Inlandia: The Remix Collection (2014) (remix EP)
Listen and watch the album Inland containing two lyric videos, a music video of "Fall Asleep" and audio tracks:
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