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The Australian singer with the look of a preacher is not a happy man. But, good God (present almost throughout his work), how beautiful his music is…
By bringing the mythical Bad Seeds around him again, the 67-year-old Australian rocker with the air of a preacher wants to become, with “Wild God”, an apostle of resilience and even redemption. On this eighteenth album, Nick Cave casts a modest veil over the personal tragedies that have recently overwhelmed him: the death of a mother he cherished (at the venerable age of 93) and especially the tragic deaths of two of his sons, Arthur in 2015 and Jethro in 2022. With the complicity of the indispensable Warren Ellis and often heartbreaking string arrangements, he offers us here some of his most accessible songs in a long time: “Final Rescue Attempt”, (the aptly named) “Joy” and “Song Of The Lake” for example.
Nick Cave has not forgetten the ghosts that have stalked him for ages. But the tribute he pays to Anita Lane, his ex-girlfriend and muse of the 70s and 80s, on “O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)” is not a morbid lamentation. It is not his most memorable composition, but an unusual form of optimism nevertheless emerges from it.
Reviewers and performers on Nick Cave
Before the concerts he will soon give in Europe and Great Britain, I had the idea of asking a few journalist colleagues and musicians to choose a title from the artist’s impressive repertoire that, for one reason or another, deserves to be highlighted. As far as I’m concerned, it’s still “Where the Wild Roses Grow”, the improbable but fascinating duet with Kylie Minogue on the aptly named “Murder Ballads” in 1995.
Marc du Marais and Dee-J (La Muerte)
“Nick The Stripper” – The Birthday Party – 1981
Quite quickly, Marc and Dee-J (aka Didier Moens) came together on “Nick the Stripper”, the emblematic track from “Prayers on Fire”, Birthday Party’s first album in 1981. “But it’s a difficult exercise, there are so many. I also love the haunting loop of Tracy Pew’s bass on ‘King Ink’. At the time, everyone called me crazy because I liked them,” says Dee-J. Marc also admits to a fondness for “Release the Bats”, their third single. “Clearly, they were the ones who gave me the desire to set up this musical project with Didier that would become La Muerte.”
Didier Stiers (“Le Soir”, “Larsen”):
“Sad Waters” – 1986
A romantic song in the primary, classic sense of the term. On the album version (“Your Funeral… My Trial” in 1986), his “split” voice captures well what the character feels when he trips over his own feelings. I like the subtlety of the biblical allusion and the nod to “Green Green Grass of Home” (sung by… Tom Jones in 67). And on some live versions, Warren Ellis’ violin is just poignant.
Dirk Steenhaut (“Focus Knack”)
“From Her to Eternity” – 1984
It’s obviously very difficult for me to choose but for the moment I’m heading towards “From Her to Eternity”. This song dates from a time when Cave was still very dangerous, and he had his very own slightly neurotic blues side. The song also says something about his torrid sexual obsessions, but at the same time it also shows humor because, for all its exaggerations, the song has something cartoonish about it.
