Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Push Away The Sky
Iconic and legendary, Nick Cave is a true poet among rock stars.
While lacking the global reach of his better-known, more accessible contemporaries, Cave has developed a huge following that love his down to earth, melancholy lyrics and, perhaps more so, the work of the Bad Seeds: his band that frames his golden words.
Push The Sky Away is a classic and fits well into the Bad Seeds back catalogue, but it’s more melodic and subtle than other outings such as Dig Lazarus, Dig or Abattoir Blues.
This is made up not of ballads exactly, but certainly more thoughtful pieces that bring out the poetic element of Nick Cave, particularly in tracks like Water’s Edge, Jubilee Street and the progressive, slightly post-modern Finishing Jubilee Street.
The words are carefully crafted, poured over.
They provide much joy for those listening; I rewound several sections just to clarify what was said, in some cases because it was more than a little saucy.
Nick Cave revealed the creative process that went into making the new album.
He said: ‘I enter the studio with a handful of ideas, unformed and pupal. It’s the Bad Seeds that transform them into things of wonder.
‘Ask anyone who has seen them at work. They are unlike any other band on Earth for pure, instinctive inventiveness.”
As for the album: ‘Well, if I were to use that threadbare metaphor of albums being like children, then Push The Sky Away is the ghost baby in the incubator.’
You see, he even talks like a poet – you’re not always sure what he’s going on about but it sure sounds good.