And well, two albums, one we probably need to say something about far more than the other one, two more we feel rather positive about…

My Heart, An Inverted Flame /// Apparitions – My Heart, An Inverted Flame /​/​/ Apparitions (Deathbomb Arc) – Now then, Deathbomb Arc say, quite rightly, that the label is rather proud to present their “third release from My Heart, an Inverted Flame, here complimented by Apparitions on a split release showcasing two experimental approaches to drone and drums, transcending both electronic and metal genres”. This sounds big, beautifully so, four pieces of music, two from each outfit, almost twenty minutes of ambition from both parties. everyone, or even every one, a winner. 

“My Heart, an Inverted Flame, the synth-doom duo of Andee Connors (Thrill Jockey signed A Minor Forest) and Marc Kate (I Am Spoonbender, Never Knows) eschew traditional doom weaponry (i.e. guitar and bass) entirely, to generate something at once doom-adjacent, but at the same time, wholly other: a series of devastatingly heavy, seismic rituals conjured up via Connors’ caveman-crush drumming and Kate’s blown out, wall-of-sound synthesizers. The result: an art-damaged, cosmos-destroying, wildly psychedelic rite of dolorous, droning dirgery, churning, black hole heaviness and sublime, cinematic annihilation”. That opening sounds like it is going to lead us into one of the really epic pieces on Pink Floyd’s The Wall – a wall indeed, a big big wall and those drums are so colourful, so dramatic, so big, everything here is big, big is the word. Seriously progressive in the best of senses. Actually both outfits work together so well on on this album…  

“Apparitions is the sound of violent contradiction. The synthesis of molten drones with cataclysmic percussion – worlds that are so at odds with one another, they become unified in moving stillness. Simultaneous divine ecstasy and extreme horror. Captured live in their raw form by Seth Manchester, this duo of improvisations are an exploration of the far-reaching bands of the dynamic spectrum, resulting in an overflowing and incandescent energy – like the sun perpetually giving off heat. Apparitions is Andrew Dugas, Igor Imbu and Grant Martin”.

Two sets of creatives, four big pieces of ambitiously intense instrumental music, progressively rewarding…

Bandcamp / Deathbomb Arc

And the new Bad Seeds album came out today….

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God (Play It Again Sam) –  And all the king’s horses, oh never mind, where do we go now? What do we do now? Oh never mind,  it really doesn’t matter what we say, we’ll say it anyway, as Nick Cave says himself, “I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious.” He’s right, he’s been through so so much in recent years, he’s share so so much of it, and he’s made some wonderful records recently and that performance back in 2022 in the park in East London, well you just had to be there for that, it can’t be explained, the things that happened in Victoria Park that night can’t be explained. This is a joyous record, it is full of so much, full of so much love, full of so many good things even when something does cause him (or us) to jump up like a rabbit. This is a spiritual album, a spirited album, an album that looks forwards in such a great big beautiful way, our past the rotting ideas. We’ve all had too much sorrow, there are too many angry words, too many people shouting at each other, and it is time to care and stand and look beyond and of course this is a very personal album, not a private album though, he’s inviting us all in, to share the joy, to share it all, to spread the love. it is about love, it is essentially an album about love…

There’s ten tracks on Wild God, there isn’t a strand out, there isn’t any hint of a filler, song stacked on song each one as rewarding as the next as the band play somewhere between Bad Seed convention and the convention of experimentation, of beautiful detail. Wild God is as rich in imagery and emotion as you would by now expect it to be, rich in the playing, rich in Cave’s soul-stirring lines and twists and plays, his ear-demanding narrative. It is the sound of a band, a group of highly creative artists, a band of people connecting with a bigger whole and stop, you’re beautiful, this is beautiful. of course there isn’t the Bad Seed-ish wildness now, how could anyone reasonably expect there to be? Indeed how could anyone want there to be? These are different times, different places…

Yes, as it has already been pointed out, there are moments that touch fondly upon the Bad Seeds’ past but they are indeed fleeting, they serve only to take us forward in the way the music has been move forward in such a big way with recent albums. And who are those dozen white horses? Those twelve white vampires? And life is very sweet (if you let it be so), and those notes, those musical notes are so so good, and it is about breathing again, about wanting to breath again – hell, what do I know about it? Who am I to say what he’s singing about, I can but read it my way, tread the hints of references, I can but judge on what we hear here and couple it with that time in the East London park and the many many (many) hours spent with the recent albums, and how wonderful it all it is there surely is no need for the rabbits to put carrots in their ears and of course the coloured crayons dance and oh wow oh wow how wonderful it is. Yes I know, I know, another over the top review and can’t I reign it in a bit, do it properly, but that’s the thing, this is the golden touch of music, this is why we gather in halls and parks and hug strangers and share moments with strangers and all the king’s horses and oh never mind, never mind, you either want to love it, or you don’t, and you’re really missing out if you chose not to… This is a joyous record, a beautiful record. (sw)

““Wild God…there’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves you. I love that about it.” Nick Cave  

previously on these pages – ORGAN THING: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, All Points East, Victoria Park, London, Just breathe, just breathe, just breathe, just breathe, just wow! Oh and those Sleaford Mods and The Smile and…

Places to find the album