Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Wild God" 2024****

It's been 7 years since the previous time I saw Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds play live at Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome. That concert reminded me why they're one of my favorite bands, in a way that listening to their latest albums didn't; Nick has always been a terrific performer, but his desire to connect with his audience seems to be intensified after his personal tragedy. The loss of his teenage son was recent then, and his grief more palpable. This time, I had the impression that the healing process is well under way. Onstage, he inhabited -as he did in the past- various personas: the crooner sitting on his piano, the storyteller, the actor, the manic preacher, even the rocker - with ample help, of course, from the always fantastic Bad Seeds, augmented this time with a 4-piece gospel choir and Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood. Only downside, to me, was the setlist; half of it was made up from the new album (they played 90% of it), with the other half cherry picking tracks from a deep discography of 20 or so titles.

Recent years had seen The Bad Seeds take a back seat while Cave and his current henchman Ellis drowned their albums in hazy synths. Additionally, Cave has lately often performed/recorded solo on piano, or as a duo with Ellis. To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with that direction, irregardless of the quality of the songwriting; The Bad Seeds are too good a band to be underused. Here, they make a partial return, as the song structure and instrumentation follows more conventional forms. Wild God sounds like a natural progression from Push The Sky Away moving towards a more ambient sound a la Sigur Ros or Spiritualized. Final mix was done by Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips). When you know that, you can't disregard the similarities between album opener "Song of the Lake" and, say, The Lips' Yoshimi or Rev's Secret Migration - all those big, exhilarating, strings and choirs. The choir takes on an even bigger role on the uplifting title track, which is followed by the life-affirming "Joy" tracking the road from tragedy to redemption. It's the song that captures the spirit of Wild God best - Joy was initially going to be the album title, but Cave thought it might be too give the wrong impression, of one-dimentional happiness, when it's about overcoming adversity and finding joy in experiencing life in all its complexity and wonder. "Final Rescue Attempt" is closer to the piano balladry of his critically acclaimed Boatman's Call, with some judiciously applied electronic elements. "Conversion" sounds suspiciously close to something religious, but trust Cave to confuse the personal with the mystical; there's a talk of beauty, and of a girl, and love, of course, either personal or universal. Driven by the gospel choir, the song gets progressively more ecstatic with the repeated chorus of "touched by the spirit" and Cave repeatedly shouting "you're beautiful". "Cinnamon Horses" and "Long Dark Night" are a couple of gentle ballads, followed by "O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)", a poignant love song dedicated to former lover and bandmate Anita Lane, who passed away recently. The pair co-wrote "From Her To Eternity" during the early years of The Bad Seeds, and collaborated sporadically even after their separation. A recording of Anita nostalgically reminiscing about the old days renders the song even more heartbreaking. "O Wow O Wow" may not be among Cave's best compositions, but it's one of his most heartfelt and touching songs, and as great and generous epitaph as one could ever hope for. The album closes with "As the Waters Cover the Sea", a short song of openly religious nature ("As He steps from the tomb/In His rags and His wounds"... "He brings peace and good tidings to the land" etc). I guess it brings a nice closure to the album, but it's disappointingly unambivalent for Cave, more suitable for a collection of carol songs than for an album called Wild God. Musically, this is a better than average Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds LP, on a par with Push The Sky Away or No More Shall We Part - I will not compare it to their albums from the 80's/early 90's, which to me are untouchable. What's more important, though, and unexpected coming from an artist often portrayed as "dark" or "gothic", is its heart-warming message.

Right now there's also a limited transparent vinyl LP version available. I got mine from a record store in Belgium, as part of an "indie" package (I guess only available at independent record stores?) also including a Nick Cave poster and "Wild God" pin. The artwork is, as you can see, depressingly plain, somewhat inappropriately for an album that's meant to be celebrating joy. Except if the word is used ironically, as in "Joy Division".

***** for Wild God, Conversion 

**** for Song of the Lake, Joy, Final Rescue Attempt, Cinnamon Horses, Long Dark Night, O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)

*** for Frogs, As the Waters Cover the Sea