Darker with the Dawn: Nick Cave's Songs of Love and Death

by Adam Steiner

Overview

From his early work with The Birthday Party to the future sounds of Ghosteen, Nick Cave has rewritten the language of rock ‘n’ roll.

Darker with the Dawn uncovers the history and deeper meanings behind Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ most well-known songs from “Tupelo”, “The Mercy Seat”, “Red Right Hand”, “Stagger Lee”, “Into My Arms”, to “Higgs Boson Blues” and beyond.

The book explores Nick Cave’s life in music drawing upon his inspirations of the Bible, Greek myth, and literature, as well as his enduring passion for gospel, blues, and progressive rock. Steiner reflects upon Cave's journey from his childhood in Australia, struggles with drug addiction, his young fascination with the nightmare landscapes of America's wild west and the southern gothic towards a reckoning with his own sense of Christian spirituality. In a career spanning four decades Cave's songwriting has moved from the saints and sinners of the traditional murder ballad to piano-based heartbreak songs, deconstructed garage rock and ambient fever dreams delivered through minimalist electronica. Adam Steiner dives into the world of a complex songwriter who, in his universal expressions of love and death, continues to speak to us of the light and shade of humanity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538160350
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/01/2023
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Adam Steiner is the author of Into The Never: Nine Inch Nails and the Creation of The Downward Spiral and Silhouettes And Shadows: The Secret History of David Bowie’s Scary Monsters. He writes about music, street-art culture, architecture, poetry, and transgressive fiction and lives in London, England. Visit adamsteiner.uk/.

Read an Excerpt

Excerpt © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Across the music of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds there is a common thread moving from love, sex, murder, and death to further questions of faith and the nature of God, good versus evil, and more recently grief and loss.

For me Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ music has played out from my first listen to 2013’s Push the Sky Away, working my way through the back catalog, jumping from Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues, released almost a decade earlier in 2004, to Your Funeral... My Trial in 1986. Across the eras it would seem like the music of a different person, someone else, but also continued a common thread of rock and roll revolution....

[T]his book draws upon such material to go beyond my personal relationship with the songs to set them in context alongside Cave’s many influences, themes, and inspirations.

Table of Contents

PRELUDE (TO A NEW DAY)

BOOK I -DUSK-

1 - LET THE LIGHT IN

2 - ROCK & ROLL SAVIOR

3 - IS THIS DESIRE

4 - BAD BLOOD

5 - LAUGHTER IN THE DARK

BOOK II -MIDNIGHT-

6 - ONE EYE ON DEATH

7 - BROKEN TONGUES

8 - A TEAR IN TIME [COSMIC HEX JUNK FRANCHISE]

9 - HERE COMETH THE MAN

BOOK III -DAWN-

10 - ROCK AND ROLL SUICIDE

11 - PRAYERS ON FIRE

12 - IN BLOOM

13 - FIRE IN THE LIGHT

EPILOGUE

Bibliography

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

This is a great primer on all things Nick Cave—a solid, deep dive into where Nick Cave started from and how he made it to the present day. This is a must read for any Nick Cave fan, whether a newcomer or veteran."

Tony DuShane

Steiner connects all the dots in Darker with the Dawn, deeply examining what inspired Cave and how his work intersects in that Venn diagram of God, sex and violence.... Steiner is also a strong writer, and his deep reading into Cave’s work is comprehensive and goes beyond the obvious.

Spectrum Cutlure

In Darker with the Dawn, Adam Steiner rappels deep into Cave's songs of love and death.... Steiner is excellent on Cave's rock roots and biblical inspirations from language to imagery to themes.

Seen & Unseen

Adam Steiner’s Darker with the Dawn is a comprehensive analysis of the artistic evolution of Nick Cave, exploring how his personal experiences have shaped his music. From his early work’s violent and religious imagery to intimate and emotional imagery, Cave’s complex songwriting covers themes and genres, reflecting diverse musical tastes and creative impulses. Steiner examines the sources and meanings of Cave’s lyrics, revealing a multifaceted artist who constantly challenges himself and his audience with his twist of love and death.

Spill

Nick Cave has created a body of work across music, prose, and screen unmatched in its impact, depth, and erudition by few artists. At last, we have a critical analysis that does this achievement justice. Adam Steiner has set the benchmark for many years to come.

Mat Snow

For over forty years, Nick Cave's complex and richly allusive music has invited and rewarded close consideration. Scholarly, thorough, and insightful, Darker with the Dawn delivers the depth of analysis that Cave's body of work deserves.”

Simon Price

Described as a primer on all things Nick Cave, Darker Than The Dawn is more than that. It is a deep dive into the life, loves and losses that make up one of our generation’s greatest creative artists. It is obviously also a labour of love for Steiner, only a genuine and long-time fan would even think of attempting something as labour-intensive as this and it is easy to imagine the author getting completely caught up in Cave’s work and mindset as he went to such lengths to analyse and research such a lengthy and diverse back catalogue and its interconnecting strands. Darker Than The Dawn is a great read for old fans and new, for those who are looking for a good introduction to Cave’s work and for those who have lived with it and would appreciate an in-depth analysis.

Louder Than War