Australian alt-rockers Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds opt for a minimalist approach on 2013’s “Push The Sky Away”, their 15th studio album. The album marks the first release without founding member Mick Harvey, who parted ways with the band in 2009. Cave and three other band members formed the garage-rock inspired side-project Grinderman in 2006, releasing a self-titled disc in 2007. Some elements of that project spilled over onto the Bad Seeds’ prior release “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!” but are nowhere to be found on this album. The tracks are mostly bare, brooding pieces with hushed vocals, subtle percussion and sparse electric guitar picking.
The album feels like a reset of sorts, a foray into unfamiliar territory with a sound that meanders somewhere between The xx and Explosions in the Sky. When things don’t work the experiment feels tossed off but luckily Cave has enough charisma to keep the music interesting even when the melodies aren’t.
“Jubilee Street”, a slow moving tale of a down and out prostitute, works better than most. An evocative guitar riff anchors the track as Cave introduces us to “a girl named Bee” who “used to say all those good people down on Jubilee Street/ They ought to practice what they preach.” It’s a slow mover, but as a string section, acoustic strumming and light organ washes are slowly added the track winds up being quite moving.
A similar vein is mined on “Finishing Jubilee Street”, which features beat-style spoken word verses and lyrics like “Last night your shadow scampered up the wall…/ It leaped like a black spider between your legs, and cried.” The chorus, featuring gentle male/female vocal harmonies, saves things. Cave has stated that lyrical content of the album was partially gleaned from “mystically-tinged absurdities” he found on Google and Wikipedia, which helps to explain the strange narratives on “Mermaids” and “Higgs Boson Blues”.
Overall, “Push The Sky Away” is an odd record and doesn’t try to hide it, but the songwriting is solid and with patience and close-listening it will eventually be worth the effort.
