Nick Cave has offered a fresh perspective on the solace he has sought in religion in the face of the darkest moments of his life, releasing his critically acclaimed new album, Wild God, on Friday.
Together with his band The Wild Seeds, the 66-year-old hitmaker has channelled the grief he suffered following the loss of two of his children into the new collection of songs, which he began writing on New Year’s Day 2023.
Wild God has also been praised by critics, who have hailed the “deeply human” record as a “gospel rock riot” and “a fierce celebration of love.”
In 2015, Nick’s 15-year-old son Arthur died after taking LSD for the first time, before falling nearly 20 metres from a cliff near his home in Brighton, England.
Seven years later, in 2022, Nick’s 31-year-old son Jethro, who had schizophrenia and struggled with drug addiction, died in Melbourne two days after being released from jail and two months after violently assaulting his own mother.
Nick Cave has offered fresh insight into the solace he has sought in religion in the face of his darkest moments, releasing his critically acclaimed new album, Wild God, on Friday.
Together with his band The Wild Seeds, the hitmaker has channelled the grief he suffered after losing two of his sons into the new collection of songs.
The album’s lyrics offer insight into the pain Nick has suffered from his recent losses, as he sings in Song Of The Lake: “‘Cause all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put us back together.”
She also alludes to a visit from the spirit of her deceased son, singing in the Joy rack: ‘A ghost in giant slippers, laughing, stars around his head… a child on fire.’
Singing about the physical impact of his beliefs, he added on the album’s title track: ‘Oh Lord, well, if you feel lonely and if you feel sad; and if you just don’t know what to do; it brings your spirit down.’
Nick also reflects on his grief in the song Long Dark Night, which begins with the words, “I was inside a dream for so long, I couldn’t break free.”
Speaking about the album, Nick said: “I hope the album has the same effect on listeners as it had on me. It just comes pouring out of the speaker and I just get carried away by it.
“It’s a complicated record, but also deeply and joyfully infectious.”
The album, the first with The Bad Seeds since 2019, has also been praised by critics with a number of positive reviews.
Writing a glowing five-star review, The Guardian He called the album a “masterpiece,” before adding: “Packed with remarkable songs, its mood of what you might call radical optimism is potent and infectious.
In 2015, his 15-year-old son Arthur died after taking LSD for the first time and “freaking out” before falling 60ft from a cliff near his home in Brighton (pictured are Nick with his twin sons Arthur (right) and Earl (left)).
Another of the pop star’s sons, Jethro Lazenby, died in Australia in May 2022, just days after being released from prison (Nick and Jethro pictured in 2017)
Wild God has also been praised by critics, who have hailed the “deeply human” record as a “gospel rock riot” and “a fierce celebration of love.”
“You come out feeling better than before – a better experience, in the best sense of the phrase.”
The Independent He said that “the album that will make you believe in the transformative power of love,” while The Sunday Times He described it as “a gospel rock riot, The Bad Seeds at their loudest in 20 years.”
NME gave the album four stars and said, ‘With a passion for life, the once dark prince is letting in the light.’
Nick previously spoke about the album in an interview with The Sunday Times, telling the publication that the prospect of an afterlife was at the forefront of his mind while writing the record, especially in the wake of his son’s death.
‘I’m not really sure what happens after you die, but I was worried about how Arthur’s spirit would feel if he saw the misery his mother and father were suffering because of his death. Yesterday was the anniversary of his death…’
“And one thing we can tell you now is that everything is fine. I say this cautiously. There is no closure. Things are not the same as before Arthur or Jethro died. We are happy, though.”
The Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds star, known for hits including Into My Arms and One More Time With Feeling, moved to Los Angeles shortly after Arthur died with his wife Susie and Arthur’s twin, Earl, because they were “too affected” by living just down the street from where it happened.
The tragedy was widely reported and Nick previously said it forced him to “grieve publicly”.
An inquest into Arthur’s death revealed the teenager, who also had cannabis in his system, was “completely disorientated” when he fell off a cliff into the rugged Ovingdean Gap near Brighton.
Police said the teen was so high he “could no longer tell what was real and what wasn’t” and in a final message to a friend he said: “Where am I? Where am I?”
In the minutes before his death, the teenager was seen by motorists “zig-zagging” through the grass on the edge of the cliff before climbing a safety fence and falling, it was said.
Another of the pop star’s sons, Jethro Lazenby, died in Australia in May 2022, just days after being released from prison.
The 32-year-old had been behind bars for kneeing his mother in the face during a fight over cigarettes, leaving her “bruised and bleeding”.
Days before his death in court, Jethro’s lawyer revealed that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and that it affected his judgment.
The troubled man, who had spent years in and out of prison as his life spiraled out of control in a haze of illicit drugs, was facing further criminal charges when he was found dead in a $100-a-night motel in Melbourne.
Nick alludes to a visit from his late son’s spirit on the album, singing in the song Joy: ‘A ghost in giant slippers, laughing, stars around his head… a boy on fire.’
In June, speaking on his blog The Red Hand Files, where Nick answers questions from fans, he responded to a woman whose daughter was murdered.
He wrote: ‘A father should never have to bury his son, it makes no sense, it is outside the natural order of things.
‘Yet here we are, you and I, living within these awful voids left by those we’ve lost.
‘I love your honesty in laying bare the biblical rage we sometimes feel toward a world that has the audacity to keep turning, no matter our suffering.
“How dare the world be so beautiful?” we think. These are feelings that diverge from grief.