Weekly Release Spotlight: Nick Cave
Posted on 4/20/2008
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!
[Mute]
The red-hot marquee lights that vibrantly spell out the album's deliciously wicked title on its cover say it all: prepare to get burnt. Until last year's outing under the Grinderman guise, the legendary Nick Cave had been, for the most part, getting sweeter and loftier in his musical endeavors with the Bad Seeds. The 2004 double-disc Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus meandered through flowery ballads on one half and gospel choir-aided epics on the other. Before that, the introspective side of Cave prevailed even more as he neared his fourth decade as an artist, almost doing a complete 180 on his days in The Birthday Party. After 2007's foray into gritty sludge rock with the aforementioned new project, some wondered if the Bad Seeds would ever get another chance to re-emphasize their "bad" side. In 2008, they (along with Cave) finally get their fiery comeback.
Looking at Cave's public life outside of music for clues as to how the recent powerhouse effort, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! came into being, his turn as an actor and co-composer for two dusty existential Westerns in the past few years (The Proposition in 2005 and last year's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) offers some insight. Both films required scores that were calm enough to blend into the naturalistic background but also reeked of explosive desperation and raw humanity. Cave's sensibilities fulfilled these needs seamlessly and on Lazarus, he remains comfortably in this mindset, only now with a distinct visual palette to accompany him on his linguistic and instrumental journey into his personal version of the old West ("The city was gone," he divulges on "Moonland").
Musically, every song snarls confidently into the eyes of its maker, taking the identity of a cryptic vagabond sipping on whiskey in the corner of the saloon with the brim of his Stetson just barely covering up his crimson stare. Glance at it at the wrong moment and it could draw and aim its weapon before you could even think about an exit strategy. Some tunes keep their cool, only simmering in angst and tension, such as the stately "Midnight Man," but when the showdown goes down, it doesn't leave a living soul unaffected, as in the demanding "Lie Down Here (& Be My Girl)" or the album's title track. The 8-minute denouement on Lazarus ("More News From Nowhere") is the only segment that doesn't outwardly fit the overarching theme and tone, and thus, becomes the most memorable experience on the album. It's when that rogue vagabond finally finds the woman that he came to the town for in the first place, demonstrating that Cave may be the ultimate rustic bad-ass, but he'll always have a tender side, just like any great cinematic anti-hero, from Jesse James to Daniel Plainview.
Stream: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Written by Chris Polley, Radio K volunteer and host of Now Like Photographs.