Saturday 4 January 2014

Best of 2013 - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' - Push the Sky Away


Thank you, @oneillpaudie for singing the praises of Nick Cave's 2013 offering. 

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Following 2008's raucous 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!', itself sandwiched between the chaos of Grinderman 1 and 2, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds returned this year with the understated, slow-burning and quite frankly brilliant 'Push The Sky Away'. Their first record since Mick Harvey's departure, it's more atmospheric and darker than its immediate predecessors, deep bass lines, synths and Warren Ellis's eerie strings recalling the mood of early Bad Seeds, even Birthday Party albums. The menacing opener 'We No Who U R' sets the record's tone nicely, and 'Waters Edge' or 'We Real Cool' could fit easily on 1985's 'The First Born Is Dead'. 'Jubilee Street' builds up perfectly,  its swirling crescendo never reaching 'Mercy Seat' proportions, but hits just the right heights to create a bit of a clatter, Bad Seed-fashion. Sir Nick gets quite animated during the tumultuous 'Higgs Boson Blues' before the album closes with the powerful and stunning title track. 'Push The Sky Away' may not create the loudest racket of Nick Cave's incredible discography, and it may not be his heaviest release either, but it's a subtle, affecting and beautiful LP that holds its own against any of them, and for that it is certainly one of my albums of 2013.

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