Nick Cave has shared details of a new album with the Bad Seeds called ‘Wild God’. Check out the tracklist and title track below.
Set for release on August 30, the album will comprise 10 songs and see the band move between themes of convention and experimentation – introducing left-turns that heighten the rich imagery and emotive narratives created by the frontman.
“I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious,” Cave said of the upcoming release.
“There is never a masterplan when we make a record. The records rather reflect back the emotional state of the writers and musicians who played them. Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems we’re happy,” he added. “There’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves you. I love that about it.”
To mark the announcement of the album, the band have shared the title track as the lead single, capturing the same balance between newness and their signature sound as expected in the full album. Check it out below.
“It is the sound of a group emboldened by reconnection and taking flight,” reads a description of the LP. “There are moments that touch fondly upon the Bad Seeds’ past but they are fleeting, and serve only to imbue the relentless and restless forward motion of the band.”
The writing process for ‘Wild God’ began on New Year’s Day 2023, and the tracks were laid down with sessions at Miraval in Provence and Soundtree in London. From there, the Bad Seeds introduced their unique spin, and additional performances were added from Colin Greenwood (bass) and Luis Almau (nylon string guitar, acoustic guitar).
Alongside Cave himself, Warren Ellis co-produced the album, and it was mixed by David Fridmann. You can pre-order ‘Wild God’ here, and check out the album artwork and tracklisting below.
The ‘Wild God’ tracklist is:
1. ‘Song of the Lake’
2. ‘Wild God’
3. ‘Frogs’
4. ‘Joy’
5. ‘Final Rescue Attempt’
6. ‘Conversion’
7. ‘Cinnamon Horses’
8. ‘Long Dark Night’
9. ‘O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)’
10. ‘As the Waters Cover the Sea’
Last year, following the release of his book Faith, Hope & Carnage, Nick Cave spoke to NME and revealed what fans can expect from his upcoming music.
When asked if he was pouring more love into his music, he responded: “I don’t know about the music, but these days I feel a more urgent need to connect with people.
“There’s a kind of duty in that, that maybe I didn’t feel before. That I have at my disposal something that’s very valuable – to make music and I don’t want to squander that opportunity in phoning in gigs or doing half-hearted attempts. Everyone is as important as each other.”
News of the new album comes after Cave launched a mysterious countdown clock yesterday (March 5), but did not reveal to fans what would happen when it struck zero.
The first word of a new Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds album came back in October 2022 when he confirmed in a Q&A that he was about to start the writing process. He later said that the eventual writing processed commenced at 9am on New Year’s Day 2023.
In July last year, he wrote on his site that they were “finishing” work on recording the new album, and then in November, Cave said he was about to start mixing on the record in Buffalo.
The most recent Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album was 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’. In a glowing five-star review, NME wrote: “‘Ghosteen’ is one of the most devastatingly accurate accounts of grief that you’ll ever listen to. Yet it’s also, astoundingly, one of the most comforting. Few mediations on grief manage to navigate despair and catharsis as well as this.”
As well as ‘Wild God’ being on the way, there is also a television adaptation of Cave’s 2009 novel The Death Of Bunny Monro in the works, with former Doctor Who star Matt Smith recently having been confirmed to take the title role.