Genre: Christmas, Folk/Acoustic/Americana, Pop/Rock
Members: Dan Haseltine (vocals, drum programming), Charlie Lowell (keyboards, vocals), Steve Mason (guitars, vocals), Matt Odmark (guitars, vocals)
For fans of: Gomez, Guster, R.E.M., Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Beatles, Johnny Cash
Label: Essential Records

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In order to find balance, neither of two sides can exist without the other.

It's that dichotomy of living in the physical and human world that Jars of Clay explores in their new project

Good Monsters, giving both longtime listeners and new fans a glimpse at the veteran band's creative dichotomy as well.

It's not about eradicating one side to glorify the other. It's about figuring out how to reconcile one with the other. It's about finding the good within the monster.

Speaking of finding balance between two, it's within the first two seconds of the opening track that you'll realize Good Monsters is unlike any Jars of Clay album you've heard before.

It's certainly a departure from the band's most recent recorded work, 2005's acoustically driven hymns collection Redemption Songs. When guitarists Stephen Mason and Matt Odmark make their blisteringly electric entrance on the track Work, when Charlie Lowell's piano slices through, when the rhythm section of bassist Aaron Sands and drummer Jeremy Lutito make their presences felt, and when vocalist Dan Haseltine reveals, "I have no fear of drowning/it's the breathing that's taking all this work," you sense you're in for a little different experience than you've had from these guys in the past.

It's transparency by design, an expressed desire to speak truth, as they see it, at the very moment they experience it. "There's more urgency in these songs. There's more honesty," Haseltine says. "In a way, we're weighing in on the bigger conversations we've kept ourselves out of for a long time. The conversations about relationships or social justice, but recognizing we don't have to be the voice of the church."

At the same time, much of the lyrical content on Good Monsters hone in on intimate emotions. "I had a talk early on with Matt talking about the lyrics, that some of these songs were focused in on such a small amount of an emotion," Haseltine continues. "Jars has pretty much tried to focus on some 'big picture' ideas. When we write songs, the lyrics can tend to be pretty lofty, and this season has represented more of being comfortable with not sharing the whole front end or back end of a story, but just sharing the moment you're in."

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