Push the Sky Away

Name(s): Push the Sky Away
Release Date(s): February 18, 2013

Pre-Release Thoughts

Push the Sky Away has my attention. Not a particular fan of Nick Cave past Murder Ballads, but I listened to a song from this earlier and I remember it sounded like chamber pop. I really hope Nick Cave brings in some more string arrangements on this album because it could bring him the sophistication he needs to match his more mature voice, as opposed to albums such as The Boatman’s Call which seem to also be trying to sound “sophisticated” but just seem like a lesser version of Tom Waits or a latter-career Leonard Cohen.

In his prime, Nick Cave had one of the coolest voices I’d heard, so it weakening a lot in his old age is a huge deal for him, in my opinion. But there has to be ways to work around that, and I’m looking forward to Push the Sky Away to see if he’s got a solution.

Why did I type all that out about an album that hasn’t released yet? I must be really bored.

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Push the Sky Away Review

Oh what the hell, the album leaked one day after I wrote that and I just realized that today. Gave it a listen, first impressions follow.

I’m genuinely surprised and glad that my prediction turned out to be accurate. In fact, the arrangements are more interesting than I thought they would be. This is definitely another smooth singer-songwriter Nick Cave album in the vein of The Boatman’s Call, No More Shall We Part, and Nocturama, but it’s a much, much needed evolution. Where those albums pretty much put me to sleep with repetitive sappy sentimental ballads, Push the Sky Away is actually pretty good. I won’t lie, I only listened to those three albums once each so far (for good reason) but it wasn’t that long ago. I can’t think of much more specifically to discredit those albums other than I thought they were boring and completely musically and lyrically uninteresting old man singer-songwriter albums for whiskey lovers.

Fuck, this is about Push the Sky Away. Nick Cave for me actually achieves some moments of beauty here that he seems to have been trying with albums like The Boatman’s Call. The sparse string arrangements are great, and the album kind of has an aquatic/seaside feel to it (this should have been “The Boatman’s Call“). Track titles like “Water’s Edge” and “Mermaids” only push that image forward. And the constant thumping bass of “We Real Cool” makes you feel like you’re 30 feet under.

And Nick Cave’s sinister lyrics actually start showing up again. There are some occasional stupid lyrics here and there (there’s a track called “Higgs Boson Blues,” but title aside it’s one of the best songs on here still), but at least he’s trying to paint some interesting imagery again instead of sappy love ballads we’ve heard through another voice too many times before. Also, I’m pretty sure I heard him rhyme “Hannah Montana” with “African savannah.” Gonna try to ignore that.

Another thing I really like to see here is the album’s length. 42 minutes—one of the shortest Nick Cave albums. The man’s had a tendency to make his albums a bit on the long side, with some lesser tracks that may have been better as B-sides, but here everything’s good and keeps the flow going. Yeah, it’s one of his most cohesive albums too, every track flowing into the next. Every track slowly builds up to “Higgs Boson Blues” and the album gracefully exits with the title track.

Push the Sky Away Verdict

That’s all I can say for now, but I’m genuinely surprised I have almost nothing but good things to say about this. My only big issue is the stupid lines here and there, but the music itself sets up a great atmosphere never put forth by any other Nick Cave album. Nick Cave even sounds younger.

Push the Sky Away is the rejuvenation Nick Cave has clearly been trying to achieve with albums like Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!. It’s something fresh, not just for him but for music in general. No more half-assed garage rock or piano ballads that the world really doesn’t need more of (in my opinion), this is something special. Check this out, 4 stars, one of his best albums in a long while, I’m rambling because I can’t think of things to say, etc.