Cave In / Mutoid Man’s Stephen Brodsky Covers Alice in Chains’ “Rain When I Die” on the Ukulele

When we see “ukulele” and “cover” together in the same sentence on the metal internet in 2018 we’re accustomed to hearing a tongue-in-cheek, silly-sounding cover of an uber srs song with an over-the-top video, hammed up for full effect. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. They’re often quite amusing.

But a serious cover of an uber srs song that just so happens to be on ukulele is a welcome departure from that. We can only guess what inspired Cave In / Mutoid Man frontman Stephen Brodsky to tackle Alice in Chains’ depressing dirge “Rain When I Die” on the uke — I’d guess he was casually plinking around on the instrument one day and it just kinda happened — but damn, this song is devastatingly morose even on an admittedly light-hearted-sounding instrument. I’m especially digging Brodsky’s vocal take here, which finds him singing an octave up from Layne’s original performance, and in a haunting falsetto to boot. Check it out below.