Albums to watch

Push the Sky Away

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

Push the Sky Away

Fifteenth studio release from the highly influential alternative rock band, their first without multi-instrumentalist and founding member Mick Harvey

ADM rating[?]

8.1

Label
Bad Seed Ltd
UK Release date
18/02/2013
US Release date
19/02/2013
  1. 10.0 |   The Skinny

    Nick Cave has nary put a cloven hoof wrong and fifteenth album Push the Sky Away shows no sign of bucking that trend
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  2. 10.0 |   The Independent

    They've made their best album, a thoughtful, oceanic work that sucks one in, its hidden currents exerting a subtle but strong undertow
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  3. 10.0 |   State

    This return to ethereal and hazy tunes on Push The Sky Away will surely stand up as one of their defining works
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  4. 9.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Richly arranged, masterfully sequenced, and full of brooding
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  5. 9.0 |   Slant Magazine

    In Push the Sky Away, an album of thrilling darkness pierced by moments of brilliant light, Cave may have crafted his defining statement
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  6. 9.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    They still sound as vital, charged, atmospheric and bursting with forward momentum as they did in 1983
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  7. 9.0 |   BBC

    An LP as weighty, compelling and brilliant as The Bad Seeds have ever produced
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  8. 9.0 |   Uncut

    An aquatic, slow-moving work of hushed beauty
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  9. 9.0 |   NME

    A masterpiece that merges the experimentation and freedom of their side projects with Cave's most tender songcraft. Print edition only

  10. 9.0 |   Clash

    A work of lyrical reflection and musical transcendence
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  11. 9.0 |   Blurt

    I'm not embarrassed to say that on multiple occasions, Push The Sky Away has left me choking back tears. Dig, listener, dig
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  12. 9.0 |   God Is In The TV

    Present day Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are the musical equivalent of an iceberg, slow moving, ninety percent hidden below, awe-inspiring, and unstoppable
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  13. 8.5 |   The Quietus

    Cave is always the first to give fulsome credit to his band, and they aim true here in the most explorative, coherent and well-realised Bad Seeds album in years
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  14. 8.4 |   Paste Magazine

    The album surprises continually, offering humor, crises and redemption within the sound of something as lovely and enticing as it is aggressive and challenging
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  15. 8.0 |   Entertainment.ie

    Another outstanding album to add to an impressive body of work and the first truly great album of 2013
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  16. 8.0 |   Art Rocker

    A stunning collection of songs that show that Cave and the Bad Seeds have lost none of their mischief or menace with age
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  17. 8.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    PTSA may never stare you in the face, but you'd be a fool to turn your back on it. It's carrying a knife
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  18. 8.0 |   The Observer

    This is a very good record indeed, just not the record the more hidebound Cave lifer would instantly press to their breast
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  19. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    Push the Sky Away is a reaction and coda to the past, with the title song reflecting on the ecstasy and exhaustion of life
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  20. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    While nearly unshakeable in its bleakness, Push the Sky Away is another exemplary effort from the Bad Seeds, and the moodiest entry into the Nick Cave canon in over a decade
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  21. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Features funeral-paced songs and stripped-down music that calls to mind Leonard Cohen fronting James Blake minimalism
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  22. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    Comprises nine brooding ballads, all delivered in Cave’s rumbling sprechgesang
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  23. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Cave in subdued mood, yet on potent form. Print edition only

  24. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    The Bad Seeds, like any good band, are constantly evolving and growing. Push The Sky Away demonstrates that even in his 30th year, nobody delivers a lyric quite like Nick Cave
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  25. 8.0 |   Daily Telegraph

    It’s a very adult kind of gothic: no big gory vampire shocks, just a grim, urban reality swelling towards rich catharsis
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  26. 8.0 |   Pitchfork

    Push the Sky Away scans as the Bad Seeds' post-Grinderman comedown album
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  27. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    The band’s most subtly compelling and elegiac album since 2001’s No More Shall We Part
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  28. 8.0 |   Fact

    It might be their fifteenth album in a 30 -year career, but Push The Sky Away proves beyond all doubt that the group is still at the top of their game
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  29. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    If you want a portrait of the artist, as an artist, the album qualifies as “essential” even by the strictest definition
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  30. 8.0 |   The Scotsman

    Has little of the devastating confessional depth of The Boatman’s Call, still his finest collection of love songs, and more of the dark storytelling vein which was threaded through No More Shall We Part and Nocturama
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  31. 7.9 |   Bowlegs

    You can certainly hear the push of forward-thinking, structure manipulation and instrumental freedom on show here
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  32. 7.8 |   Beats Per Minute

    As wonderfully subdued as anything they’ve ever done, and there’s currently no group that can wring more value from their age and experience
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  33. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    What the album is missing is viscerality, be it of the thunder and blood variety or simply out and out heartstring tugging
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  34. 7.0 |   The 405

    A genuine brand of intelligence and depth that you’ll struggle to find on many releases this year
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  35. 7.0 |   DIY

    There are some wonderful moments, the single ('We No Who U R') and the title track are starkly magnificent, but the general feel is a bit of a comedown
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  36. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    It’s a pretty-sounding ugly LP, one that contains its fair share of ghosts, standing in for the sadness and brutality of our time
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  37. 7.0 |   All Music

    Despite excellent songs, this album feels more like an extension of Cave and Ellis' more cinematic work than a Bad Seeds record
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  38. 6.7 |   A.V. Club

    Most of the album’s tracks build listlessly to nowhere, and he similarly keeps his usually magnificent croon on a short leash
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  39. 6.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Can someone make sure Nick is still awake?
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  40. 6.0 |   Q

    The roar has subsided to a murmur and the tracklisting does nothing to smooth the transition. Print edition only


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Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds: Push the Sky Away

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  • 1. We No Who U R £0.99
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  • 3. Water's Edge £0.99
  • 4. Jubilee Street £0.99
  • 5. Mermaids £0.99
  • 6. We Real Cool £0.99
  • 7. Finishing Jubilee Street £0.99
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