As requested....
Skeleton Tree - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - 2016
Given the tone, title and subject matter of his latest (and many say greatest, at least of the recent releases) album, you could probably be forgiven for thinking Nick Cave wrote this following the tragic and accidental death of his son, but it appears that most if not all of the album was already written before that terrible event. To an extent, you have to either wonder at the fortitude and determination, and dedication of the man, to return to work on the album a mere two weeks after Arthur, his fifteen-year-old son, had fallen from a cliff to his death, or shake your head at the lack of compassion or the perhaps obsession as the man drove ahead in the face of such a tragedy. But then, without being crass, this kind of awful calamity can be a creative spark to writers, and Cave did apparently add or rejig some of the lyrics to reflect what had happened.
But nobody is going to poke too deeply into his own personal loss – I'm not, anyway – although you can't help but be moved by the way despair, loss, fear and perhaps anger colour this, his sixteenth album, in the wake of his son's unexpected death at such an early age. For me, personally, I've loved Cave's work from about
The Good Son to about
No More Shall We Part, while the albums that followed that left me a little cold, or at least uninterested. I did enjoy
Push the Sky Away, but kind of not on the same level as previous ones in the bracket mentioned above. Consequently, when I saw this was out, I of course got it, but have not so far been that bothered about listening to it, so this will be my first experience of it. From what I read, it should be well worth it.
Pretty atmospheric start, very dark of course, with Cave in his usual fine vocal form. The second track is a little more upbeat, musically, almost puts me in mind of Springsteen, oddly, at least his more recent stuff. You can kind of hear a tremor in his voice on “Girl in Amber” - whether this has anything to do with the loss of his son or not I don't know; maybe the vocal was already recorded at that time. But it certainly sounds like his heart is breaking. Terribly sad, and in a much more low-key and therefore more effective way than Clapton's “Tears in Heaven”, which just to me came across as self-pitying, which is fine, but also used the death of his son to get him a hit single. Hey, that may not have been his aim, but he did put his grief out there on show for all to see. And hear. And buy. I don't get the feeling Cave is doing this: as I said, most of these songs were already written before Arthur's death, so I can't and won't accuse him of capitalising on the tragedy.
There's much less reliance on guitar here, as there has been on his last few albums, than I've been used to. Kind of more an ambient feel almost, with piano high in the mix, some female vocals adding pathos to the end of “Girl in Amber”, a dark opening then to “Magneto”, which sort of creeps and slides into your soul with a sense of discomfort that is somehow welcome. Cave also doesn't overstretch himself here, making this his shortest-run album ever, and one of the ones with the least tracks, at a mere eight. And yet, there's nothing wasted. Nothing. Everything here is gold. And if you have a soul, every one of these songs will move you. Cave was never a man to write “happy” or even upbeat music (even his uptempo material usually had downbeat or dark lyrical matter - “Jack the Ripper” from
Henry's Dream, “Loverman” from
Let Love In, even “The Curse of Millhaven” from
Murder Ballads) but this is especially dark and melancholic, and as I said, that can't be blamed on the loss of his son. He had written this album almost in its entirety before that particular hammer of life fell upon him.
I've always considered Cave one of the most honest musicians I know of. He never tries to be something he isn't, never hides or avoids issues, and even takes sly pokes at his own celebrity (see “Lay Me Low” on
Let Love In for a great example of this). The result is that when a Cave album is released, you pay it special attention. Yes, I know that belies what I said at the start, but after I had listened to
Push the Sky Away I did kind of remember what I was missing, and it's just been my workload that has stopped me from checking this out. I'm glad I got to do that now, as I agree that this is one of his greatest albums, certainly of the last twenty years, coming close to the epic darkness of
No More Shall We Part, but in a more low-key and somehow more raw manner.
“I Need You” drips with yearning and desperation, while “Distant Sky”, featuring the welcome guest vocals of Else Torp, is pure release and salvation, backed by a sonorous organ and muted percussion, almost a prayer, and the title track is the perfect closer to what is, pretty much, a perfect album. I have nothing bad to say about it. I know I'm a Cave fan so therefore biased, but up to the last album I hadn't thought a lot of his output after
No More Shall We Part, so I can be critical when required. I don't however think there's much, if any criticism you can level at this album, unless you're a total dick, or clueless about Cave's music.
To be honest, those who have never heard Cave but who like ambient music will probably be able to appreciate this album too, as there is a very ambient feel to it, albeit dark ambient, and the soundscapes built up here by Cave, Warren Ellis and producer Nick Launay are nothing short of staggering. They're also oppressive, choking, terrifying and at the same time cathartic. Sure, after listening to this album you kind of feel like you've been submerged underwater longer than you can stand, or have been shut up in a confined space, and you need, to quote Waters, to breathe in the air. But hell, it's worth suffering through that personal trauma to be able to accompany Cave on this most personal and harrowing journey.
Buy your ticket today, and don't look back. Darkness, and a kind of light, too, awaits.
Track Listing
Jesus Alone
Rings of Saturn
Girl in Amber
Magneto
Anthrocene
I Need You
Distant Sky
Skeleton Tree