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Nick Cave Announces New Album, ‘Carnage’

Nick Cave has confirmed he’s been in the studio with fellow Bad Seed, Warren Ellis. The follow up to 2019’s Ghosteen is called Carnage and will mark the band’s 18th studio album.

Like most Nick Cave news, he revealed the new album via Red Hand Files. One Tobias asked Cave, “How is your lockdown?”

Nick Cave replied, “Dear Tobias,

“In many ways lockdown has felt weirdly familiar, like I’ve experienced it before. I guess this should come as no surprise as I was a heroin addict for many years and self-isolating and social distancing were the name of the game.”

He talks about the struggles that come with lockdown before saying, “I am surprised, though, at just how hard not being able to play live has felt.”

“I have come to the conclusion that I am essentially a thing that tours. There is a terrible yearning and a feeling of a life being half-lived.

“I miss the thrill of stepping onto the stage, the rush of the performance, where all other concerns dissolve into a pure animal interrelation with my audience.

“I miss the complete surrender to the moment, the loss of self, the physicalness of it all, the feeding frenzy of communal love, the religion, the glorious exchange of bodily fluids — and The Bad Seeds themselves, of course, in all their reckless splendour, how I miss them.

“As much as sitting behind my desk can bring me a lot of joy, and the imagination can be a stimulating, even dangerous place, I long for the wanton abandon of the live performance,” he says.

He then very quickly announced the new Nick Cave album. “Anyway,” he says, “As promised in my last issue, I did go into the studio — with Warren — to make a record.”

“It’s called CARNAGE.”

There’s no word yet on a release date.

Enjoy a listen to ‘Waiting For You’ below, taken from Ghosteen.

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