The Cave And The Light

Over the course of a dozen solo albums and two decades, the former Birthday Party frontman and his trusty Bad Seeds have been on an endless death march through a landscape of brooding depression, tragic obsession and black-hearted murder balladry. Nocturama, as you might expect, finds them no closer to the light. Minimally decorated, languidly paced and darkly textured, most of these 10 cuts once again combine Cave’s literary narratives and croaking baritone to maximum effect, weaving mesmerizing tales of death, sin and salvation, whose bleak messages are leavened only by the sheer beauty of their performance and artistry. Every once in a while, just to startle us, Cave breaks the spell by rocking out - the hard-hitting Dead Man In My Bed lurches to a stumbling 15/8 beat, and Babe, I’m On Fire is an angular, 15-minute epic of fixation…

This album purports to be an attempt at recursion by the creator of The X-Files, Chris Carter – songs inspired by the show that he hopes will provide further inspiration for the show (just as Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" did for the "Ascension" episode.) Contributions here include Mark Snow, with the title music, the Foo Fighters with a grand rendition of Gary Numan's "Down in the Park" (Numan's songs would fit this show perfectly), Sheryl Crow, Frank Black, Filter (who abandon their roaring faux-NIN sound for moody acoustic guitars), Meat Puppets, Elvis Costello with Brian Eno and even Screamin' Jay Hawkins. While not perfect, the album makes a nice alternative compilation, one that has that blue-light glow of twisted mystery X-ficianados have come to enjoy.