Rock’s prince of darkness: Sanjoy Narayan writes on Nick Cave

Nick Cave wears suits to work. When he sits at his desk or piano to write his music, he wears a suit; when he’s recording at the studio, he’s in a suit; and those who have watched his slim self burst with energy on stage know that he likes to wear a suit at his gigs too.

In a recent interview with BBC, the Australian singer, songwriter, author and occasional actor said he thinks he “essentially has an office job” and that he couldn’t imagine doing it in cargo shorts and camo Crocs.
The dark, well-cut suits that Cave (who turns 67 this month) wears complement the intensity of his songs, characterised by their literary quality and exploration of themes such as love, death, religion, and violence. Themes that have earned him the nickname Rock’s Prince of Darkness.
Yet, on August 30, when Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released their latest album, Wild God, it marked a departure from the sombre tones of their earlier work.
Recent albums had been deeply influenced by his personal loss and grief. During the sessions for the 2016 album Skeleton Tree, his life was sideswept by the death of his teenage son, Arthur Cave. The dreamlike follow-up, Ghosteen (2019), was Cave looking for a way out of the fog.
That was followed by the aptly named Carnage (2021), which took stock of the Covid-era darkness. The black clouds returned the following year, when another son, 31-year-old Jethro Lazenby, died.
Yet, Wild God is themed on joy and transformation. It opens with Song of the Lake, which blends the dreamlike quality of Ghosteen with the post-punk Gothic rock essence of the Bad Seeds. The soulful drums and sweeping cinematic soundscapes set the tone for an album that is both cathartic and uplifting.
The title track, Wild God, is a joyous waltz that sees Cave in the role of a preacher, inviting listeners to join him on a journey of joy and escape.
O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is), is a trip-hop love song that pays tribute to his late friend, former girlfriend and one-time bandmate, Anita Lane. The song ends with a loving voicemail from her, adding a personal and touching note to the album.
Wild God is impeccably produced by Cave and fellow band member Warren Ellis, with whom he has also collaborated on soundtracks for films such as Blonde (2022), the fictionalised take on Marilyn Monroe’s life, and Back to Black (2024), based on the life of Amy Winehouse.
Evolution has been constant in Cave’s career. (Click here for a quick playlist.) He was born in rural Victoria and formed his first band, The Boys Next Door, in the late 1970s. It evolved into The Birthday Party, and made chaotic, abrasive post-punk music featuring lyrics by Cave that were often aggressive and confrontational.
When he transitioned to the Bad Seeds in the early 1980s, the sound became more structured, though still intense. This band’s darker sounds of gothic rock are perhaps best represented by the album Murder Ballads (1996). A phase of softer, piano-driven ballads and deeply personal lyrics followed, on albums such as The Boatman’s Call (1997).
Then came albums such as Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus (2004), which blended garage rock’s high energy with the devotional aspect of gospel, a fusion that was as curious as it was unique. Check out the opening track, Get Ready for Love, which is an ode to love as well as God.
Cave had a religious upbringing, so faith and God recur as themes in his music. Still, from 2006 to 2011, he meandered into a side project called Grinderman, which made raw, primal rock that was libidinal.
Then came his late-career phase. Beginning with 2013’s Push the Sky Away, Cave’s music has become more atmospheric and experimental. Ambient soundscapes, minimalist arrangements, more electronic elements — and grief — characterise his music now.
Many have happened upon his work via his song Red Right Hand, which has featured as the title track of the British period crime drama Peaky Blinders (2013-). Several of the band’s other songs have featured on the show too.
Cave’s body of work contains other treasures as well. There are novels, including The Death of Bunny Munro (2009; about a middle-aged salesman who turns into a promiscuous alcoholic after his wife’s suicide) and films such as One More Time with Feeling, a documentary about the recording of Skeleton Tree, in the aftermath of the death of his 15-year-old son.
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