Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds alternative rock release Skeleton Tree is an introspective measure of catharsis from personal loss. Halfway through recording their 16th album, Cave’s teenage son Arthur succumbed to injuries after falling from cliffs near their Brighton home. Subsequently documentary film One More Time With Feeling and album Skeleton Tree both document those feelings of loss.
A collection of different painful experiences tied together by "you" get jumbled across “Jesus Alone” as synth warbles and piano echoes support a voiced call based in grief. “Rings of Saturn” lets out somber vocals in fluid delivery in what could be an intimate encounter, though when narration admits to being there and yet not the story could be represent a bit more. Grief runs monotonously through the “Girl in Amber” as phones ring, an old song spins, and the world turns through lyrics about the consolations of personal loss. A swirl of memories move “Magneto” within the darkness of past to present, birth to death, dropping addictions to gaining religion, all underlined with a spirit of love that cannot be shattered.
Referencing modern geology of humanity’s environmental impact the “Anthrocene” verses detail those evolutionary impacts and the range of emotions compacted into the human experience. “I Need You” sees Cave baring his soul in the direct aftermath of loss, going through the every mundaneness of living while attempting to find strength to move forward. In a rare feature Danish vocalist Else Torp duets with Cave in “Distant Sky” on a preparation for a journey outward, a pair of companions leaving indefinitely despite the loss. The closing title track “Skeleton Tree” takes catharsis from personal experience, calling out across to the sea cliff in vain only to have to let that experience go in the end.
Skeleton Tree is a hard, sobering listen with beautiful melodies coupled with poignant themes. Surprisingly enough the songs were all written before Arthur died. Those thematic feelings relentlessly may weigh down the record but the quality of Nick Cave's music here cannot be ignored. In the spirit of the record just listening in will be a process of letting go, though a good one at that.