Music Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are not always on top of the music world, but they’re always up to speed. Through their long career—they released their first album in 1983 and have released 15 subsequent albums—Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds know how to adapt their style to the sounds of the times. In the 90s they released rock ballads like those of R.E.M. and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and in 2009 when bands like Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire were making it big, they imitated the popular multi-faceted chamber orchestrations. Now the band has ventured into the dream pop, dream rock and even the slightly avant-garde as popularized by artists like Sharon Van Etten and continued by other old-timers Tom Waits and John Cale.

While Cave’s vocals are constant throughout, there are two separate instrumental strains. Half of the album reminds of Beach House instrumentals displaced by croons of an old raspy vocalist. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ comfortable, contemporary-sounding dream pop doesn’t overcome genre tropes. Backdrops are characterized by repeated ambient melodies, regular shifts between major and minor keys and dreamy arpeggios, all performed by distant guitars and synth keyboards. “Wide Lovely Eyes” most epitomizes Cave’s move to modern pop styles: its minimalist rhythms, plucking chords and soft overlain flute would fit seamlessly on a playlist of Real Estate, Woods and The National. Likewise, opener “We Know Who U R” hypnotizes with its hushed harmonies. Both songs are comfortable and easy to listen to with a modern ear.

When he’s not writing contemporary pop tunes, Cave tends toward the avant-garde. These tracks are often less successful. “Water’s Edge” lacks a distinctive melody for the first half of the song and seems more like spoken word than anything else. The song has no arc. Whereas some songs use ABA structure or ABABC, “Water’s Edge” is just X. “Jubilee Street” is another ostracized track. He’s speaking more than he’s singing—sounding even more than usually does like Johnny Cash—and its bluesy rock is pretty nondescript.

Judging by other recent albums from artists popular in the 80s, it is safe to say that by and large, they have trouble connecting with the music of our generation. When they do it’s quite thrilling. There is something very satisfying about connecting a classic artist I learned about from my parents to my own Pitchfork-raised generation. With some older artists, I feel as if I’m reaching a hand out to a straggler who just can’t keep up. Sometimes it’s just a trainwreck. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ new album rests somewhere in a happy medium territory. Push the Sky Away is a mature album that chills and surprises while showcasing the versatility of a band whose sound has successfully transfigured to fit the ambiguous molds of alternative music throughout the past three decades.