Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
A 14th album of expansive darkness from the Bad Seeds.
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In a nutshell...
A darkly funny album which takes the usual Nick Cave skill in an unusual direction.
What's it all about?
Cave has said that after the simplistic concepts of the recent Grinderman project, Dig gave the band a chance to "get expansive". They have put aside the usual piano in favour of "irresistible beats" and guitar-heavy, blues-inspired old-fashioned rock 'n' roll.
Who's it by?
From the experimental chaos of the early-eighties the Birthday Party to the grungier, crude rock of Grinderman, Cave has never been easy to describe. This album is the 14th by the Bad Seeds who are usually famed for dark music and wild poetry.
As an example.
"When I came up out of the meat-locker, the city was gone"
"now hang on!!! my friend Doug is tapping on the window
(hey Doug, how you been??????????????????)
Brings me a book on holocaust poetry
---- with pictures ----"
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys:
Good. Although the band may not be to everyone's taste, the skill and ingenuity of their music has built a legion of fans and a wealth of industry respect, meaning Dig should at least get a few mentions. It certainly deserves to.
What the others say:
"Nick Cave seems incapable of making a bad record; the older he gets, the more revitalised he sounds." - Metro
"Dig Lazarus, Dig!!!, unbelievably the Bad Seeds' 14th studio album, sustains a level of casual insouciance throughout that makes it a career standout." - Times
So is it any good?
Yes. The prolific Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have been refining and revitalising their music for decades but have not reached the end of their inventiveness yet. Severely cutting back on the trademark wailing violin and spooky piano - and with a noticeable dearth of songs about dead girls - Dig, Lazarus Dig!!! is rockier and funnier than the Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus offering of 2004. With much of the energy of the grungier Grinderman project Cave et al explored last year, Dig is stuffed with all the literary, biblical and mythological jumble fans can usually expect.
It is also exciting to watch the way Cave plays with language in the lyric booklet. The scattering of text speak, excitable and unpredictable punctuation and made-up or out-of-place words ("spraddle" and "myxomatoid" being two favourites) is possibly the post-modern, meta-lyrical explorations of a genius. That or he's laughing at us. Either way, the booklet makes interesting reading and adds to the personality of the album.
If there is a trademark Bad Seed sound, it is most apparent in Jesus of the Moon, in which Cave's talent for emotive narrative is accompanied by elegant flute. The track would fit in better on The Good Son than it does surrounded by rock 'n' roll tunes like the title song. Night of the Lotus Eaters has a distinctive Grinderman feel and More News From Nowhere more obviously presents the band's earlier musical characteristics.
Dig is a confident album by musicians who are not simply singing the songs they know will sell and it is an interesting, exciting and often irreverent offering.
9/10
Felicity-King Evans
"Howdy, Fliss! And a Happy Beltane to you! More later, now that I've found you. It's been years. Hope you are well and happy. Best fishes... Omicron" - Mighty Mike O