#2. Skeleton Tree
By: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Last year, my second favorite album of the year, Carrie & Lowell, was audial heartbreak in its purest form. Or so I thought. Come 2016 and Nick Cave releases Skeleton Tree, what may be the purest distillation of grief every scratched onto wax. ST deals with issues common to many of Cave’s albums: death, God (or lack thereof), grief, basically dreadful. However, what sets this album apart is the events that surrounded its creation. Near the beginning of recording, with some of the songs already written, Cave’s son fell off a cliff to his death. Sufjan Steven’s loss of his mother inspired Carrie & Lowell, but Cave lost his son unexpectedly. I’m not trying to lessen Steven’s loss, but there are different types of grief for the loss of a child, the loss of a child in such a violent and unexpected way. While quite a few of the songs were already written, hearing Cave’s cracking, grief-stricken voice sing them added an inescapable sadness to the tracks. The lyrics of all the songs transformed into laments for a loss child. Even if they were initially about something else, these songs will forever be remembered as being about the death of Cave’s son. Tragic. Crippling. Intimate, personal art at its finest.
Key song: “I Need You” - While “Rings of Saturn” may be my favorite track musically, “I Need You” is the whole album as song. Cave’s vocal track barely stays in key, but I dare you to turn away and ignore his pain.
By: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Last year, my second favorite album of the year, Carrie & Lowell, was audial heartbreak in its purest form. Or so I thought. Come 2016 and Nick Cave releases Skeleton Tree, what may be the purest distillation of grief every scratched onto wax. ST deals with issues common to many of Cave’s albums: death, God (or lack thereof), grief, basically dreadful. However, what sets this album apart is the events that surrounded its creation. Near the beginning of recording, with some of the songs already written, Cave’s son fell off a cliff to his death. Sufjan Steven’s loss of his mother inspired Carrie & Lowell, but Cave lost his son unexpectedly. I’m not trying to lessen Steven’s loss, but there are different types of grief for the loss of a child, the loss of a child in such a violent and unexpected way. While quite a few of the songs were already written, hearing Cave’s cracking, grief-stricken voice sing them added an inescapable sadness to the tracks. The lyrics of all the songs transformed into laments for a loss child. Even if they were initially about something else, these songs will forever be remembered as being about the death of Cave’s son. Tragic. Crippling. Intimate, personal art at its finest.
Key song: “I Need You” - While “Rings of Saturn” may be my favorite track musically, “I Need You” is the whole album as song. Cave’s vocal track barely stays in key, but I dare you to turn away and ignore his pain.