Nick Cave, Seven Psalms,
During the lockdown, Nick Cave wrote a psalm every day for a week, each with topics such as love, faith, sadness and anger. On Seven Psalms, he narrates these spoken word passages over minimalist backing tracks that he composed together with his regular collaborator Warren Ellis. Seven Psalms is less of an album and more – in Cave’s own words – a “veiled, contemplative offering” of “little, sacred songs”. The longest of these songs is just over two minutes. Even with a second side consisting of a 12 minute instrumental version of all the songs together, Seven Psalms is only 25 minutes long.
But these are powerful nuggets. Whether speaking directly to God or meditating in more abstract terms about the nature of religion (you never know exactly), Cave’s words are powerful and evocative. The spectral synth and ghostly sound of a church bell on I Have Trembled My Way Deep are covered in the 64-year-old’s signature lyricism. “Defoliate me and burst me wide / And lay your shiny head on my chest,” he says.
His voice is carefree but warm everywhere; he may be a “mist-maker moving through the crowd” who “creates a cloud of carnage everywhere I walk”, but Cave’s close, ragged delivery is compelling. There is also sadness here. Such things should never happen, he speaks of a baby sparrow falling out of its nest. “Such things should never happen, but they do. Next to a little box, a mother cries,” he says, and it’s impossible not to think about Cave’s own grief (unimaginable tragedies have seen him lose two sons in recent years). Cave also addresses social unrest – on Splendor, Glorious Splendor, he talks about gas cylinders spinning and hissing down the street.
Ellis’ music is elegy everywhere. It throbs and swells with subtle majesty. The aforementioned Splendor, Glorious Splendor features an unobtrusive yet seductive piano riff reminiscent of the blinking and you-miss-it piano part on Nick Cave’s Pink Moon. The little details here are beautiful.
But this is a small album. It’s nearly impossible to be a grazing Nick Cave fan (you either get sucked into its restless orbit or you’re not), and anyone thinking of dipping a toe in the water probably shouldn’t start here. . (I would try The Boatman’s Call, Let Love In or Push The Sky Away as entry points). But for the Cave converts, Seven Psalms is a very invigorating listen. James Hall