Push the Sky Away

If the dirty-old-man noise rock in Grinderman, Nick Cave’s other band, was an orgy, the relentlessly laconic Push the Sky Away is pure hangover, an exhausted guy at the end of the bar mumbling about love’s chill and telling creepy conquest stories (“She was a catch/We were a match/I was the match/That would fire up her snatch” – do tell!). The first Seeds LP without co-founder Mick Harvey, Sky is full of tiny sounds – plinking guitars, pulsing bass, lazy subtle drums. “Higgs Boson Blues” is a hilarious bad-Dylan peak, linking Lucifer, Robert Johnson, Hannah Montana and the Lorraine Motel. Can someone make sure Nick is still awake?