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âThere are some people trying to find out who / There are some people trying to find out why,â Nick Cave announces on âCarnageâ opener âHand Of Godâ, âthere are some people who arenât trying to find anything, but that kingdom in the skyâ. Once fans are over their giddy joy of a surprise new album, theyâll soon be poring over this record for answers. What is Cave looking for now? What does he still have left to prove?
Having always traded in mythology, Caveâs work seemed to map a more explicitly autobiographical route on recent albums. The devastating 2016’s âSkeleton Treeâ was coloured by the tragic death of his 15-year-old son Arthur, and 2019âs spectral âGhosteenâ was seen as a more considered processing of grief and what really matters. This time, as Cave told fans via his blog-meets-Q&A-service The Red Hand Files, âCarnageâ emerged from his âtaking stockâ of life when the pandemic pulled The Bad Seeds from the road. The result is what he describes as âa brutal but very beautiful record embedded in a communal catastropheâ.
This is not a Bad Seeds record like many fans were expecting, but a collaboration between Cave and Warren Ellis; not that it loses anything as a result. A Bad Seed since 1997, the multi-instrumentalist has long flanked Cave not only as his maniacal right-hand man on stage, but also a partner in songwriting in most of his musical endeavours â including filth-rock side project Grinderman and most of his many TV, film and theatre scores. Since they met their dynamic has been that Cave creates a cast of characters and Ellis makes them dance.
In the 2014 fact-meets-fantasy music doc 20,000 Days On Earth, Cave says that Ellis helps him overcome the âlonelinessâ of songwriting and that he âmakes the process so much more enjoyable and fruitfulâ. The 2016 film One More Time With Feeling, which documents the making of the making of âSkeleton Treeâ in the wake of Arthurâs death, showed how loving, protective and connected Ellis was to Cave. Theyâre as close to creative soulmates as you could imagine. âCarnageâ, their first non-soundtrack album released as a duo, carries their shared spirit to strange and bewildering new places, to reflect these strange and bewildering times.
Following the sparse âGhosteenâ, âCarnageâ quickly gets back to business with a lot more bite, but no less adventure. Opener âHand Of Godâ boasts an alien, electro-trance pulse, as Cave sings of being overwhelmed by the driving power of nature, unseen forces and a higher power. That dark rhythm continues into the jazzy shuffle of âOld Timeâ, which depicts a harrowing fever dream where âthe trees are black and history has dragged us down to our kneesâ; he longs for the times of being able to drive away into the sunset to escape. Respite soon comes on the achingly tender title track where Cave finds the light: âAnd itâs only love with a little bit of rain / And I hope to see you againâ.
Album highlight âWhite Elephantâ is one of Caveâs more explicitly political tracks. Ellis builds up a pensive cinematic tension as Cave draws upon the now historic imagery of 2020âs Black Lives Matter protests: âA protester kneels on the neck of a statue / The statue says, ‘I canât breathe’ / The protester says now you know how it feels / And kicks it into the seaâ. The mood grows fittingly noxious before hope returns with the promise that âa time is nigh for the kingdom in the skyâ and the song blooms into some of the more opulent celebratory sounds last heard on The Bad Seedsâ 2004âs sprawling, goth-blues opus âAbattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheusâ. That motif of âa kingdom in the skyâ returns on the heavenly âLavender Fieldsâ. Atop a score that wouldnât sound out of place on The Gladiator soundtrack, Cave resolutely waltzes into a better place.
Fans of Caveâs purest, classic love songs (i.e. âInto My Armsâ, âThe Ship Songâ) can now file them next to the ghostly but gorgeous âShattered Groundâ and swooning âAlbuquerqueâ â the latter an ode to lockdown togetherness: âWe wonât get to anywhere anytime this year, darlingâŠunless you take me thereâ. Thereâs so much of Cave at his best here, not least his wry humour on closer âBalcony Manâ (âIâm Fred Astaire, you think you have a plan until I hit the stairsâ) before ending things with a little bliss: âThis much I know to be true, This morning is amazing and so are youâ.
âCarnageâ is arguably Cave and Ellisâ best record since The Bad Seedsâ latter day reinvention on 2013âs âPush The Sky Awayâ, or maybe even âAbattoir Bluesâ. Itâs certainly two master craftsmen at the peak of their melodramatic powers.
Cave told fans via The Red Hand Files that these songs were born from missing the sensation of âthe complete surrender to the momentâ that comes from being on stage. Theyâve certainly captured that abandon, along with all the heightened rushes of panic and mania that come with lockdown and recent world events, and those merciful moments of peace, serenity and hope for whatâs to come. Cave and Ellis have taken a bold leap into the COVID eraâs dark night of the soul, and found a truth that we all share.
Details
Release date:Â February 25
Record label: Goliath Records
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