I started writing this review on Saturday, the day after the albums release, and it is only today (Monday) that I feel I can actually write something meaningful and in depth. Music is inevitably created as an art form that makes you feel, and this album definitely does make you feel. Since listening, I have felt incredibly attached, and I have felt emotion beyond believe. I don't really know whether this is because of the love I have for Nick and the personal connection this album creates or because of the cavernous nature of the album. All I really know is that I have had an incredibly tough time finding the words to write this post, to the point were tears have been falling on my keyboard.
I honestly thought that no Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album could ever top 'A Boatman's Call' but since the release of 'Skeleton Tree' on September 9th my mind is in a different world entirely. I couldn't quite pin point what it is about this album that brings so much life especially in light of such grievance, but then I realised that through the darkness, the mourning and the despair, Nick is still living; he is living in his family, and in his band. His whole word has changed, his music has changed, and I can't help but think that this album will catch us changing with him.
Sometimes, an albums personal meaning can be so intense that it throws the listeners field of vision right out of sync - Skeleton Tree is that album. The Bad Seed’s 16th studio album comes shortly after the death of Nick’s son, who tragically died last summer, and is simply a masterpiece of love and destruction. Powerful, energetic, emotional, harrowing yet beautifully steady, each track is so fragile and sombre that they continue to remain extremely difficult to listen to, but even harder to turn off.
"Let us go now, my darling companion/ set out for the distant sky's/ see the sun, see it rising/ see it rising, rising in your eyes" - Distant Sky
Unsurprisingly, we are introduced to a very dark album which allows us to delve into Cave's feelings, and connect with him personally through his journey into a new world, a world of loss and never forgetting. And for those who were lucky enough to watch the albums feature film 'One More Time With Feeling', it is evident that this is the connection Cave wants to develop with his audience as he documents his bereavement.
I honestly thought that no Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album could ever top 'A Boatman's Call' but since the release of 'Skeleton Tree' on September 9th my mind is in a different world entirely. I couldn't quite pin point what it is about this album that brings so much life especially in light of such grievance, but then I realised that through the darkness, the mourning and the despair, Nick is still living; he is living in his family, and in his band. His whole word has changed, his music has changed, and I can't help but think that this album will catch us changing with him.
Sometimes, an albums personal meaning can be so intense that it throws the listeners field of vision right out of sync - Skeleton Tree is that album. The Bad Seed’s 16th studio album comes shortly after the death of Nick’s son, who tragically died last summer, and is simply a masterpiece of love and destruction. Powerful, energetic, emotional, harrowing yet beautifully steady, each track is so fragile and sombre that they continue to remain extremely difficult to listen to, but even harder to turn off.
"Let us go now, my darling companion/ set out for the distant sky's/ see the sun, see it rising/ see it rising, rising in your eyes" - Distant Sky
Unsurprisingly, we are introduced to a very dark album which allows us to delve into Cave's feelings, and connect with him personally through his journey into a new world, a world of loss and never forgetting. And for those who were lucky enough to watch the albums feature film 'One More Time With Feeling', it is evident that this is the connection Cave wants to develop with his audience as he documents his bereavement.
"With my voice I am calling you" - Jesus Alone
The
album is far less polished than any other Bad Seeds albums, which was initially
what Cave set out to achieve, an album that is unanchored, creating freedom for
atmosphere and truth, yet what is immediately remarkable is that it is no
different to your pre-existent idea of a latter-day Cave album, and still echoes
the same rock and roll darkness that we all know Nick is the king off.
Lyrically genius, each word is haunting yet stunningly poetic, and structurally
repetitive as if the tracks are stuck on loop, creating the impression that
this is a metaphor for Cave’s mind process throughout his mourning.
"I knew the world it would stop spinning now since you've been gone/ I used to think that when you died you kind of wandered the world" - Girl in Amber
Accompanied by a band so musically talented, the sound of grief - as some are calling it - screams heart ache, emotional but mesmerising, and much a like many other Bad Seed songs the accompaniment can break your heart one minute, then mend it the next. Stripping their sound back to the bare essentials, the band play quietly, almost as quiet as Nick's vocals, except in some areas where the sound is predominantly over whelming bringing the tracks to life and bursting with bliss. Throughout the album the listener is sent into a mixed bag of sensations with screeching synthesiser's thundering enormously in the background, and the support of piano chords or gently plucked guitar, creating a lingering sound that is so deep and powerful that the listener could close their eyes and they'd feel like they're floating in the musical abyss.
Me and Kyle, my brother, before the viewing of 'One More Time With Feeling'
Art is an incredible institute for creating emotion and memories, and in most cases for giving back life to those that need it in the darkest of times. Skeleton Tree; an album that reminds us all so clearly why we listen to music. To remind us to live, a little more than we probably do...and to always shake our ass's to a fucking good song. I don't think I can ever turn it off.
*This is my personal review of Skeleton Tree, I do not expect everyone to feel the same way.
