‘Jubilee Street’ – the second single to be taken from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds upcoming album Push the Sky Away – manages to impress without moving away from comfortable territory.
The relaxed downbeat vibe that forms the song’s foundations is made brilliantly melancholic by the shaky, finger-picked guitars that chime throughout, and the orchestral break-down in the final quarter provides a satisfyingly enchanting end to this pot-boiler.
‘Jubilee Street’s’ real merit lies in Cave’s rugged delivery of such thought-provoking lines as “she had a history but no past” and “they ought to practice what they preach”, with both representing a poetic approach to lyric-writing that is often absent in contemporary music.
As usual, Cave impresses greatly, and this epic suggests that the new album could have the ability to match 2008’s Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and maybe even surpass it.
8/10
