Nick Cave has written a new album with Bad Seeds bandmate Warren Ellis, titled Carnage.
In a post on his Red Hand Files website, on which the artist frequently answers fans’ questions, Cave responded to a query about how his lockdown is going. "In many ways lockdown has felt weirdly familiar, like I’ve experienced it before," he said. "I guess this should come as no surprise as I was a heroin addict for many years and self-isolating and social distancing were the name of the game. I am also well acquainted with the mechanics of grief – collective grief works in an eerily similar way to personal grief, with its dark confusion, deep uncertainty and loss of control.
"For me, lockdown feels like a state mandated version of more of the same – a formalisation of the kind of hermit-like behaviour to which I’ve always been predisposed, and so, as difficult as it has been to see the devastation and anguish caused by the pandemic – including to the lives of those close to me, and many who have written into The Red Hand Files – I have been doing okay.
"I am surprised, though, at just how hard not being able to play live has felt. I have come to the conclusion that I am essentially a thing that tours. There is a terrible yearning and a feeling of a life being half-lived. I miss the thrill of stepping onto the stage, the rush of the performance, where all other concerns dissolve into a pure animal interrelation with my audience. I miss the complete surrender to the moment, the loss of self, the physicalness of it all, the feeding frenzy of communal love, the religion, the glorious exchange of bodily fluids – and The Bad Seeds themselves, of course, in all their reckless splendour, how I miss them. As much as sitting behind my desk can bring me a lot of joy, and the imagination can be a stimulating, even dangerous place, I long for the wanton abandon of the live performance."
As he wraps up the letter, he reveals, "as promised in my last issue, I did go into the studio – with Warren – to make a record." While he did reveal the album’s title, he did not offer any further details on when to expect the album’s release. Carnage is expected to be Cave’s 18th studio album, following on from 2019’s Ghosteen.
