I don't know what other people call the genre – But I call it, "Existential Modern Crooner"
Mark Lanegan. Grinderman. Greg Dulli. Tom Waits. Leonard Cohen. Hell, even Amy Winehouse and David Lowery dip into it.
And. Nick Cave.
"Skeleton Tree" came out yesterday.
I screwed up, and despite having it my calendar, missed the one-night theatrical showing of the partner film for the album, One More Time with Feeling, screened in theaters.
"Skeleton Tree" is moving, cutting, and complicated. It's a short album – only eight songs – That feels meaty and long.
Until it's over.
Then it feels I-need-more-short – So, I play it again. And it feels meaty and long again, and doesn't get old as I cycle, rinse, repeat.
Sure, I have a bias.
Not the I-["♥"]-Existential-Modern-Crooners bias.
Not the I-like-Nick-Cave-and-I-like-Nick-Cave-and-the-Bad-Seeds bias.
It's the "I'm a dad. And I can't even imagine."
"Skeleton Tree" has a lot more in common with Cloud Cult's "They Live on the Sun" and "The Meaning of 8".
And if you let it, it will wreck you.
