It is hard to believe at times that
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds could channel their volatility to even
make two albums together without self-destructing. Now that they have
reached an impressive record number 15, what can you even say? Has
the band formed out of the smoldering ashes of The Birthday Party
lost their edge, watering them down but ironically allowing them to
survive this long? All of these questions are answered, in one
fashion or another, in Push The Sky Away. This album
represents Nick Cave and company's post-Grinderman come down and it
is more of a float to Earth than free fall. If the idea of a
rock-less album (a la The Boatman's Call) sends you running
away then you might have missed one of the essential truths about The
Bad Seeds: they are good at what they do and excel when defying
people's expectations. Many thought that Grinderman, a sleazy garage
rock project from a band of hairy middle aged Lotharios, was bound to
fail under a pile of fizzing amp stacks and embarrassing pussy jokes.
Thankfully they were all proven wrong and their two albums stand as
erect middle fingers to the “you're just too old” sentiments.
Unlike some of their previous ballad
heavy albums Push The Sky Away has very little to do with love
and romance, unless your idea of a magical night out involves
prostitutes, dissection, metaphysics, and Wikipedia. Not a single
track on this album raises the tone above 'meditative' so if it's a
balls-out rawk assault you are after then this is not the Nick Cave
album for you. Yes, it is uniformly mellow, and rather quiet, but it
is anything but gentle. There is still the familiar themes of rage,
lust, and redemption (that is Nick's naked wife on the cover after
all) but they take new unfamiliar forms. The instruments tend to
occupy the ominous low-end - much rumbling of bass, woozy violins,
and brushed drums - all of which allows Cave's vocals and, therefore,
his lyrics, to rightly take centre stage. “I was the match that
would fire up her snatch” he croons on 'Mermaids' and on 'Higgs
Boson Blues' he manages to reference both Robert Johnson and Miley
Cyrus. The band has distanced itself from many of popular music's
traditional tropes and structures, tapping into a more “stream of
consciousness” style that suits their rambling well. Album
highlight 'Jubilee Street' is accompanied by 'Finishing Jubilee
Street', in which Cave discusses the aftermath of writing the former
song in an artistic move of meta proportions.
Push The Sky Away is the perfect
archetype for what is known as a “grower” album. It lacks the
obvious hit single, there is no energetic rave-up that gets the
people on their feet and dancing, and it is entirely without
stadium-bating anthems to cheapen their vision. What this album does
is slowly worm its way into the listener's heart via their ears. It
ends up setting up base camp in your mind and begs you to return.
What can you do but oblige?
Rating: A-
Recommended Tracks: Jubilee Street, Mermaids. Higgs Boson Blues
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