Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig – Mute B000ZN258W

At the end of the day, I suppose it all depends on whether you think lines like “prolix, prolix, nothing a pair of scissors can’t fix” are a playful use of language showing a certain self-awareness and even irony, or are just pretentious twaddle written by, in the words of one of his fellow-countrymen, a “snake-oil salesman.”

In support of the latter, you could point to Cave’s repeated use of the repeated line, particularly when the line is “we call upon the author to explain”. Well, yes we do, when we can’t make head or tail of what’s going on. Tom Waits is another gleeful wordsmith, packing images and characters into his songs, but Waits manages to cram them into a story; Cave just leaves them hanging in thin air, colourful, sinister but mystifying and without a context.

I’d really like to know more about the incident with ammonia in Albert Goes West, for instance, but the quality of the music sweeps you on to the next enigma with little opportunity for reflection or regret. While not reaching the manic heights of Grinderman, there’s enough energy coming from Cave and The Bad Seeds to leave you exhilarated, if baffled, at the end of the last track, More News From Nowhere. And yes, the line is often repeated and, yes, I call upon the author to explain. Or has he already?