Features
Nick Cave: One More Time With Feeling
by Pete Crigler
While making their most recent album, Skeleton Tree, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds were filming the proceedings and making what they imagined as a little "making of" documentary to go on some sort of special edition DVD. But then Nick’s son Arthur fell to his death. Suddenly, nothing made much sense. After taking some mourning time, Nick and the band returned to the studio to finish up the record. Everything they’d done now took on a black pall that was inescapable.
What we get are some interviews with Nick Cave, his wife, and band member Warren Ellis talking about what the plan was after Arthur’s death. The band works in a dimly lit atmosphere that only gives more ambience to the events. This is a very moody piece that’s not at all one of those fun "behind the scenes" looks at a rock band making a record. Instead, it's like a film noir piece that one doesn’t really watch for entertainment. If you’re in a black mood, put this on, and maybe life won’t feel so black. The best thing someone gets out of this record is a sense of how dark Skeleton Tree’s lyrics really are.
If your looking for an upbeat, poppy behind the scenes, everybody’s happy and we’re having a great time documentary, this isn’t it. The best part of the whole film is that there is a light at the end of the darkness. Things will get better, you will have an opportunity to move on in life, there will be light. Life is full of possibilities; you have the chance to live on to hold up the memory of the departed, and that’s what Nick Cave and company have shown they’ll be willing to do after finishing the disc. This is a very haunting, very moody documentary – not what you might expect, but a worthwhile film.