Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Push The Sky Away
Rating: Woof Daddy

One would think that after 15 albums with the Bad Seeds, Nick Cave's well of inspiration and creativity would nearly be tapped out. The first listen to Push The Sky Away immediately sets those fears aside. Cave is still a master at spinning a yarn, infusing his songs and lyrics with vivid, unforgettable images. Where he once came across as a tent revival preacher, raining down fire and brimstone onto his listeners, lately his approach has softened, making his audience lean in on the edge of their seats to hear his message. The striking thing about Push The Sky Away is how subtle it is; the music rarely rising above a whisper, as if the hard edges have been worn down after years of abuse from the elements, but yet still how forceful and intoxicating it all is.

Push The Sky Away is jam packed with ruminations on the passing of time, nature, science, and where we all fit within the grand scheme of things. Cave doesn't feel the need to rush anything here, allowing the songs to wander where they may, his 55 years earning him the right as one of rock's elder statesmen to do what he sees fit. First track and single "We No Who U R" is a stunning introduction to this record. Haunted echoes of electric piano, barely-there percussion, droning organ, and simple woodwinds propel this rather sinister track about the complexity of modern living, in which lyrics like "We know who you are/We know where you live/And we know there's no need to forgive" lament that we no longer have any real sense of privacy.



Album highlight, the almost 8 minute noir masterpiece "Higgs Boson Blues," builds slowly and cleanly, with Cave in complete control. Ostensibly about a dying man's trip to CERN in Geneva becomes a journey through one man's mind, where past, present, and future commingle, where the Internet has created a world where everything is of the same importance, pop culture at the same level of sublime beauty.



A consuming sense of sadness and melancholy imbues most of these tracks, with the minimal instrumentation creating a skeletal framework on which Cave hangs his haunting lyrics. Delicate guitars and soft keyboards cast a drifting fog on "Wide Lovely Eyes" in which a life is gently extinguished: "You wave and wave with your wide lovely eyes/Distant waves and waves of destined love/You wave and say goodbye."



The gorgeous "Mermaids" languidly flows against treated guitars, as it all builds to the gorgeous chorus with its bank of acoustic guitars and strings. The track a rumination on life and death, and how we all end up in the same place, with lyrics like "All the ones who come/All the ones who go/Down to the water."



With "Jubliee Street" the album hits another highlight. A track about a murdered prostitute is given a subtle arrangement, its simple guitar line given heft via gorgeous strings. And in keeping with the meta nature of the record, there is an addendum track, "Finishing Jubliee Street," a spoken word number about Cave creating the track, which is as, if not more, interesting as the original track.



There is a build to this record that ends with the penultimate track "Higgs Boson Blues." Instead of taking the record out on a more epic note, Cave retreats into himself with the hypnotic, ambient-esque title track. Over icy organ drones and synths, Cave intones what basically could be his life mantra, that you have to keep pushing yourself, pushing boundaries, and pushing against the forces of nature that will bring you down.



Push The Sky Away hit me hard and fast and keeps on growing in stature. With his last few releases I had taken Cave for granted, knowing that he never puts out a sub par record, but also not really feeling the passion and fire of his earlier works. In listening to this record I have a new found respect for Cave and his craft. That he is still this imaginative and emotionally moving and relevant made me revisit his last works to see that I was not fully appreciating the work and creativity that went into them. Push The Sky Away is not simply a good Nick Cave record, it is one of his best, and is definitely one of the best records of 2013 so far.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.