Nick Cave – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

• 18th Apr 2008

Slick back hair. Receding. Handlebar moustache. Slightly Arrogant. Fifty years old. I’m sure the statement conjures up an array of images that stem from a greasy sleaze ball that hangs out in bars picking up young women to a club owner in Spain. But Nick Cave still looks the part, he’s managed to manipulate the aging process that most men would dread, into a distinguished look that now defines him as well as reinvigorating him. Clearly the man has many talents.

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Is Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds fourteenth studio album, it follows last years side-project Grinderman, and is somewhat a transitional album that sees Grinderman readjusting to life in the Bad seeds once more. Lyrical content never differentiates massively with Cave, Love, Death, Religion, Mortality are all present as ever. However this isn’t a ballad album, a genre he has grown at time become accustomed to and certainly praised for. This is no ‘Boatman’s Call’ or even more recently ‘No More Shall We Part’. Piano’s take the back seat whilst the guitars sit firmly behind the wheel. Where the last Bad Seeds album presented a balanced mix of both, this focuses on the relentless energy of melody and guitars for the majority.

Opener Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Is Cave’s attempt to vent the thoughts of Lazarus and Houdini in modern day New York City to fantastic affect, the lead single from the album starts the album in good stead, As Cave narrates, to the back drop of garage rock carried on in the vein of Grinderman. The album flows well, stuttering perhaps on ’Night Of The Lotus Eaters’ which feels more like an unnecessary B-side. Then Cave bursts into his element on ‘Albert Goes West’ which has a bizarre and indescribable charm, that makes you radiate a warm glow whilst listening. It’s irresistible, and perhaps the closet Cave comes to pop on the album with a glorious melody of backing vocals, and when it breaks in it’s like sunshine bursting through the clouds as Cave sings “I won’t be held responsible for my actions”, before the Bad Seeds kick in to marvellous affect. It’s reminiscent of the charm that was displayed on ’There she goes my beautiful world’ from the Bad Seeds last record Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues(2004).

Then the follow up is equally as spectacular ’We call upon the author to explain’ is Cave addressing God in the same sense he is himself “I go guruing down the street/young people gather round my feet/ask me things-but I don’t know where to start”. Ultimately demanding “And we call upon the author to explain”. A testament to the intricateness of Caves song writing. The album certainly peaks in this middle section, and the beautiful simplicity but yet structured workings of “Hold on to yourself” is again verification of Cave’s and the Bad Seeds seamless talent. ‘Jesus of the moon’ is Cave teetering closet to ballad territory, and gives one of the best lines of the album “Cause people often talk about being scared of change/but for me I’m more afraid of things staying the same/Cause the game is never won/By standing in any one place for too long” The line perhaps a perfect encapsulation of Cave and his career.

Cave’s voice show’s no sign of slowing down or becoming gruff, as that sodden texture that occupies so many of his most beautiful songs is still as evident as ever. The album is essentially a perfect example of maturity and youth culminated, the mind of a fifty year old with the spirit and essence of someone thirty years previous fronting The Birthday Party. With a new book and film script in the pipeline perhaps the myth should be rewritten as life begins at fifty.