Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away (2013)

Released five years after Dig Lazarus Dig, this was the first Nick Cave album in over a decade I didn't buy on release. I'd been less than convinced by that album, and my enthusiasm for the music had waned.

Twelve years after release, I found it in a charity shop for a couple of quid so thought it was probably about time to give it a proper listen.

And after one listen (I'm pretty sure I listened at the time via a streaming medium), I'm left feeling very lukewarm about this. The growing influence of Warren Ellis on the sound, and the departure of lifelong (up to this album) collaborator Mick Harvey has lead to a more melancholic sound, which is fine, but there's the marked absence of the high energy thrashes which the Bad Seeds could carry off so well. There's very little angry or scary Cave, and I for one miss him.

It opens with We Know Who U R, a slow, mysterious song, followed by Wide Lovely Eyes a gentle ballad, a pleasant listen, but not one which leaves a lasting impression. Water's Edge feels like it's going to offer a little more darkness, but never quite hits the spot for me. Jubilee Street, however does, and it's probably my highpoint of the album, a long, flowing simple narrative. But little else really registers as more than a sad Cave refrain, with perhaps Higgs Boson Blues hitting the spot a little closer.

This is an older, more reflective Cave, something which was already there, but it also feels like he's forgotten how to rock, or more likely doesn't want to any more. That's fine, and for many it's what they want to hear. But for someone whose first exposure to Cave was Saint Huck, it leaves me cold. It's not a bad record, just not what I hoped for

Link to full album

3* - There's still enough to enjoy, but it's not the Bad Seeds I grew up on.