#skeleton tree

Oda Iselin Sønderland, “The Will”

Current 93 and Nick Cave - Patripassian

Ghosteen (the album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) makes a lot more sense when you've heard this, for instance

The thematic and stylistic parallels are undeniable

Also: did someone say Jesus Alone?

I’m tipsy but I really want to document this so I’ll type it here:

Since discovering Nick Cave and his most recent albums - Carnage, Ghosteen, Skeleton Tree, Push the Sky Away, it’s changed my life significantly. About the way I view myself, view grief, view the world.

O Children was the first song I heard, from the Harry Potter film. I liked the song but that was it. Then I heard the song Push The Sky Away on the radio and I had it on repeat for the next 2 weeks. It was so calming, so grounding, I had never listened to anything like it.

Going into his trilogy discography, Mermaids from Push The Sky Away caught my attention and became my favourite song, it was like experiencing something ethereal. Then I listened to Skeleton Tree and fell in love with Girl In Amber. I didn’t know what it was about until I read Faith, Hope, and Carnage. Then followed Ghosteen which hit me like a train. His son, only 14 years old, had died, and this album was an expression of his grief. He did it so well that I thought someone I loved with all my heart had died. The lyrics were the most beautiful I’d ever heard, especially in Sun Forest: ‘Come on everyone, come on everyone, a spiral of children climb up to the sun. To the sun, to the sun, and on each golden rung’... it shook me. And Waiting For You: ‘Your body is an anchor, never asked to be free, just want to stay in the business of making you happy’. I went through the whole process of grief even though I had no one to grieve over. The empathy I felt was unparalleled.

Now I’m listening to the album Carnage. Particularly the songs Carnage and Balcony Man. They fill me with such peace that I haven’t felt in a long time. Carnage makes me feel otherworldly, like I’m travelling somewhere full of magic. Balcony Man leaves me feeling uplifted through my grief and sadness. I relate it to my mental and physical illnesses: ‘This morning is amazing and so are you... what doesn’t kill you makes you crazier’. It reminds me that I can feel happiness even in my pain and my insanity, no matter how fleeting, it still exists and it matters and deserves to be said to the world.