The musician discussed the new work on The Red Hand Files.
Nick Cave has shared that his plan for 2023 is “to make a new record with the Bad Seeds.” The latest post on The Red Hand Files – a forum where the musician regularly answers questions from fans – sees the Ghosteen artist respond to the question: What are your plans for 2023?
In the post, Cave goes into detail on the writing and creative process. “I started the process at 9am on 1 January,” he wrote. “It is now 6 January – nearly a week has passed and I’ve written a few things but they aren’t very good, or maybe they are, it’s difficult to tell. A kind of doldrums has set in, perennial and predictable. It’s the same with every record, I feel that familiar feeling of lack, like I’m a big, dumb blank thing in a suit.”
Detailing his writing so far, Cave shared that on 1 January he began with the lines: “Ushering in the year he knelt down/ And crushed his brother’s head with a bone”.
“That felt like an okay way to start a record”, he continued in the blog post, “but it also felt kind of terminal and didn’t really go anywhere. Then a few days later I added to it – Ushering in the new year he knelt down/ And crushed his brother’s head with a bone/ It’s my great privilege to walk you home/ In the rain. Hop inside my coat.” To which he added: The frogs in the gutter are jumping for God/ Amazed of love, amazed of pain/ Amazed to land back in the gutter again.”
The last album Cave released with the Bad Seeds was 2019’s Ghosteen. In 2021, Cave and frequent collaborator Warren Ellis surprise released the album Carnage. Last year saw the release of the documentary This Much I Know to be True – which focusses on Ellis and Cave’s creative relationship.
We caught Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ performance at All Points East last summer. In our review of the show we wrote: “Cave moves masterfully between intense melancholy and near-hysteria. The centrepiece of the set is perhaps its darkest and most intimate moment, as Cave helms the grand piano for an earth-shattering rendition of I Need You.”
Read: Cinematographer Robbie Ryan on capturing Nick Cave alone at Alexandra Palace.
