ALBUM: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - PUSH THE SKY AWAY

Review by Jon Birch

Listen Up Manchester Album Rating: 7/10

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds released their debut album ‘From Her To Eternity’ back in 1984. Now, 15 albums and nearly 30 years later, ‘Push The Sky Away’ sees them at maybe their most dark, poetic and beautiful. Sharing more in common with the seminal 1997 album, ‘The Boatman’s Call’, than their more recent works, this is an album of deep, dark fairy tales told over gentle atmospheric piano.

In a musical sense, it’s a very much a stripped back and minimalist affair. Music here is used to create the atmosphere and Nick Cave’s distinctive baritone is the driving force. The opening track to the album, ‘We No Who U R’ is a poetic and eerie number, with lightly threatening overtones (We know who you are, and we know where you live’) On ‘Waters Edge’, Cave paints a picture of a seedy, apocalyptic underworld where the old men (‘you grow old, and you grow cold’) watch girls dancing on the streets ‘shaking there asses’.

In many ways its perhaps not right to describe these as songs, there more like gothic poetry. The music certainly set the tone but you’re always drawn back to the vocal and Nick Cave’s voice is so enticing, you don’t always need to understand the meaning behind the lyrics. The way they’re delivered is enough.

Another highlight is ‘Jubilee Street’, which is one of the few tracks where the music itself really comes into its own, building and swooping to a climax. In a surreal touch, this is followed in the second half with ‘Finishing Jubilee Street’, a song about the writing of the earlier track.

All in all, it’s a big departure from both 2008’s ‘Dig, Lazarus Dig!’ which was a big, bold confident record and Cave’s side project Grinderman, an outlet for his more loud and frantic offerings. However, it’s certainly not unknown territory and is perhaps one of his more accessible records in recent years. If you’re ready to indulge in some beautiful, yet dark storytelling, like no-one else can offer, there is plenty to intrigue you here.