Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Kings OST
(Milan)

It's hard to imagine that when Nick Cave began his long and winding career, that anyone would expect him to end up scoring major motion pictures. His early work as the front man to the psychotic post-punk band The Birthday Party, in no way informed that he was capable of anything beyond a certain kind of musical ultraviolence. For the last 30+ years he has fronted the more subdued, outfit of The Bad Seeds, and for the last 15 years his co-pilot and primary collaborator has been Warren Ellis, formerly of The Dirty Three. For those of us devoted to all things Nick Cave we have been satiated over the years with various detours from Cave and Ellis. There was of course Grinderman, the short lived primate trash-rock that undoubtedly lit the fuse for what has been the most adventurous period on the Bad Seeds discography, (in my opinion).
But another major contributor to keeping The Bad Seeds fresh has been Cave & Ellis' catalog of film scores. Their latest, Kings, is no different. The last two Bad Seeds albums (Push The Sky Away & Skeleton Tree) have made it clear that abstraction is now an integral part of the recipe. This sense of tension and experimentation is central to Kings. Frail piano is laid atop Ellis' seamless loops and textures and Cave's signature dramatic style is somehow not lost whatsoever amongst these instrumental pieces, some of which are completely devoid of any melody whatsoever. Like most of their scores, you can hear the tracing of melodies and sculpting of moods that eventually end up within the canon of the Bad Seeds. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis continue to push the boundaries of their aesthetic but still give the sense that they are comfortable wherever they find themselves, Be it within the atmospheres of Kings, or firmly planted in the earth. A fitting companion piece to the most recent chapter of Nick Cave as well as a possible glimpse of what's to come. (Adam)
Check out a track here.