Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

Ghosteen is the seventeenth studio album by Australian rock band Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, released in November 2019 via Ghosteen and Bad Seeds.

Ghosteen is a double album, the band's first since Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus (2004), and the final part of a trilogy of albums that include Push The Sky Away (2013) and Skeleton Tree (2016).

The band comprises Nick Cave (vocals, piano, synthesiser, backing vocals), Warren Ellis (synthesiser, loops, flute, violin, piano, backing vocals), Thomas Wydler (drums), Martyn Casey (bass), Jim Sclavunos (vibraphone, percussion) and George Vjestica (guitar).

The album was recorded in 2018 and early 2019 at Woodshed in Malibu, Nightbird in Los Angeles, Retreat in Brighton and Candybomber in Berlin. It was produced by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and then mixed by Cave, Ellis, Lance Powell and Andrew Dominik at Conway in Los Angeles.

Nick Cave describes the new album as built around two parts, “the songs on the first album are the children. The songs on the second album are their parents. Ghosteen is a migrating spirit.”

The music is very atmospheric, almost ambient in approach, and draws the listener in to Cave’s voice, which sounds fragile and emotional. There is extensive use of analogue synthesisers, pianos, drones, and strings. British conductor and composer Ben Foster, with assistance from Sam Thompson arranged and conducted the string section, which add a beautiful touch to the album.

Upon release, the album was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100, the album has garnered a score of 97 based on 24 reviews, making it one of the highest scoring albums on the site.

This double album 2LP record set is on black vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves and a download, pressed in the UK via Bad Seeds.