The 14th album by Nick Cave and Co is a welcome piece of work. Mostly because very few artists today have the ability to put pen to paper and come out with something that doesn’t resemble four year old’s poetry. Nick Cave likes to sing about God, Love, Death, Murder and Sex. This album takes the biblical character raised from the dead by Jesus, and places him in New York City. He also takes inspiration from Houdini. Why? Because he can.
I love Nick Cave, I want his music at my wedding and my funeral. Because at his best he suits both moods perfectly. Rarely will music sound so beautiful and desperate, as well as often being angry as hell. This album takes a lot from Cave’s Grinderman project, specifically the use of sleazy garage rock sound on some of the darker songs on the album (“Moon Land” and “Lie Down Here” especially.) The title track opens the album on an especially light mood, it’s swagger giving Cave the template for his unique singing/storytelling methods. Like a lot of Nick Cave’s work, you have to pay attention to his lyrics to really get your head around some songs, most notably “More News From Nowhere” and “Dig, Lazarus, Dig” are hilarious. We would expect no less. “Jesus Of The Moon” does have a very retro Bad Seeds feel to it, not unlike classic song “Do You Love Me?”
Each Nick Cave album is different. Thats the beauty of having such an interesting man at the helm of an incredibly talented band. However, it makes it damn near impossible to review against other Bad Seeds albums. The trouble with genius is that everything is good for it’s own reasons, and this album takes a turn away from the lovelorn Cave anthems adorning previous works, giving instead a strong, powerful feel to an artist who refuses to run out of steam.
