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Rating: Can one always be different without ever betraying their essence and personality? Having hit rock bottom so many times that one can play with life and their art until they continuously renew it?
Apparently, yes!
We had already understood this from the purgatory of “No More Shall We Part” and the fresh air that was occasionally present in “Nocturama.” In this case, the title was a bit misleading; Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds were already in the midst of an intense process of renewal, already being reborn and gathering energy for yet another coup de grâce, for a new masterpiece of class, taste, research, and poetry.
This album is irresistible and moving right from that slightly naive fabric cover. The haunting blood-red flowers of “No More Shall We Part” give way to spring flowers and an intense blue sky.
There are two albums inside: where one begins a discourse, the other finishes and completes it.
If “Abattoir Blues” may seem at times a bit disjointed and quirky, “The Lyre of Orpheus” reaches extremely high moments of cohesiveness and perfection. The energetic and positive “Get Ready for Love” opens “Abattoir Blues” to take us to “Messiah Ward” and the retro charm of “There She Goes, My Beautiful World” or again to the enthusiasm of “Nature Boy.”
There's always a breath of fresh air in the choruses that chase Nick Cave's voice, we’re not talking about joy, that would be too much, the lyrics as always go beyond the limits of introspection but it's the breadth one feels that speaks of a total renewal, completely outside the claustrophobia of many previous works.
It is “The Lyre of Orpheus” that makes this album a wonderful piece of work. It's those five gems from “Easy Money” to “Chlidren” so compact and united by an almost imperceptible but present thread. The piano becomes more energetic and the synergy of all the other instruments—violin, mandolin, bouzouki, flute, or organ of his faithful Bad Seeds—is wonderful and the absence of the legendary Blixa seems to almost take a back seat.
Nick Cave opens the sweet ballad “Easy Money” with his piano and warm voice to reach the Spanish-flavored “Supernaturally,” surely a blast live, one can’t help but imagine Nick Cave running from one side of the stage to the other with his elastic and determined steps. The adagio of “Spell” and again the complexity of “Carry Me” never cease to amaze. “O Children” is a bit sad and nostalgic, closes the circle, puts a period perhaps hinting that the next work will be different yet again because Nick Cave's journey seems infinite and ready to surprise us with many more wonders.
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