Song of the week is a weekly column Consequence highlighting the latest and greatest new tracks every week. Find these new favorites and more in our Spotify best songs playlist and to see other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify new sounds play list. This week, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds return with “Wild God.”
The last fans heard from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds was in 2019. ghost, a contemplative, ambient-influenced project that found Cave wading through waters of pain, love and swirling synths. With “Wild God”, Cave and company return surprisingly… joyful?
“It's a complicated record, but it's also deeply and joyfully infectious,” Cave said of the upcoming release and its self-titled lead single. “There is never a master plan when we make a record. The records rather reflect the emotional state of the writers and musicians who played them. Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems like we are happy.”
Upon first listen, “Wild God” certainly seems to embody this new lightness. Compared to the meditative space that led ghost“Wild God” is remarkably upbeat, organic and, with the climactic ending backed by a chorus, a triumphant anthem.
Of course, this being Nick Cave, diving into the lyrics doesn't reveal a simple expression of happiness; He said it himself in the aforementioned quote. Rather, through the story of an old man who lets memories of him take over, “Wild God” speaks to the importance of working toward fulfillment in the face of, well, all.
At every turn, the wild old man/god faces loss, hardship and suffering: rape and looting in the retirement village, the death of the girl on Jubilee Street (a potential callback to the Push the sky away track), and winds of tyranny. And yet he is a wild god in search of what all wild gods seek, winds of tyranny be damned.
“And the people on the ground shouted, 'When does it start?'/And the wild god says, 'It starts with the heart,'” Cave sings, giving our titular wild god the chance to offer his wisdom. “And the people on the ground shouted, 'When will it end?'/And the wild God says, 'Well, it depends, but generally it never ends.'”
In truth, most of the time it never ends, being anything that takes away our joy. But when you feel lonely or sad, lower your spirit, he acts like a wild god and find peace: he is out there. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds certainly did.
— Jonah Krueger
Editorial Coordinator
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