AILSA CHANG, HOST:
For 40 years, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds have been masters of melancholy, but their new album is an ode to joy - of sorts. Nick Cave talked to NPR music station WNXP's Justin Barney about the album "Wild God" and the tragedy that changed him completely.
JUSTIN BARNEY, BYLINE: Before the tragedy, Nick Cave's cult-like reputation was as music's prince of darkness. The Australian-born singer, who talked to me in New York, has been a highly influential figure for four decades and was known for singing murder ballads and embracing the romantic darkness of gothic nihilism.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PEOPLE AIN'T NO GOOD")
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS: (Singing) People, they ain't no good. People, they ain't no good.
NICK CAVE: Look. I think I was like most young people. The default setting was the world sucked, you know? And people sucked, you know? It all sucked. Now, this is a position that I understand very well, but it's also an extraordinarily indulgent position. And it's a position held, I think, by people that are yet to be truly broken.
BARNEY: Cave was truly broken nearly 10 years ago, when his 15-year-old son, Arthur, fell off the side of a cliff. For Cave, who was 66, it changed everything, including his music.
CAVE: When I look back at my former records, I can't really tell by listening to the records what was going on in my life, right?
BARNEY: Right.
CAVE: However, I think the last three or four records, really signposts of a changing set of events and a repositioning of myself in the world due to the death of my son. That's the truth of it.
BARNEY: His band, The Bad Seeds, faded into the background. His music became sparse, ethereal and personal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WAITING FOR YOU")
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS: (Singing) I'm just waiting for you to return.
BARNEY: He started speaking publicly about his grief, and he also helped counsel fans on theirs. Through everything, his perspective changed.
CAVE: The trauma happens, and ultimately, we're able to turn around and look at the world and see that we are part of - we're part of a common sort of river of suffering. I don't mean that in a gloomy way. We're just part of the brokenness of the world. And we recognize ourselves in each other. And therein lies the beauty of things.
BARNEY: That epiphany allowed Cave to take the next step and sparked a long-dormant emotion. In the middle of his new album, "Wild God," Nick Cave says this...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JOY")
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS: We've all had too much sorrow. Now is the time for joy.
BARNEY: Now is the time for joy, though it is a Nick Cave form of joy, a bridal joy, while God is a broken hallelujah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JOY")
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS: (Singing) The time is...
BARNEY: Joy is often found in the presence of old friends. On this album, the full sound of his band, The Bad Seeds, are back after being in the background for almost a decade.
CAVE: So this record was a bunch of men off their chains, dying to make a record. It's got that kind of feral energy to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FROGS")
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS: (Singing) Amazed to be back in the water again.
JIM SCLAVUNOS: It can be a bit boring if you're not actually doing something in the studio, you know (laughter).
BARNEY: That's Jim Sclavunos, percussionist with The Bad Seeds.
SCLAVUNOS: We just like playing with each other, and it shows.
BARNEY: Back to Nick Cave.
CAVE: This record, "Wild God," I just sat and listened to it with his big smile on my face 'cause it really felt like it was made by someone, in fact, a group of people who were just in a really good space. You can hear the sort of joy of creation in the whole thing, you know.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD GOD")
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS: (Singing) Bring your spirit down. Oh, we're wild gods. Baby, we're wild gods.
CAVE: People are talking about "Wild God" as a new beginning, but I don't see that. I just see that as part of an unfolding story that follows a devastation that changes the way you see the world.
BARNEY: And there's something like joy now in the world of Nick Cave's "Wild God."
For NPR News, I'm Justin Barney in Nashville. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.