Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave & Sean O’Hagan

Epic, beautiful, heartbreaking, redeeming, enlightening, engaging.

An intimate conversation with journalist Sean O’Hagan that covers faith, art, music, freedom, grief, love, doubt, wonder, awe, creativity, the religious, the spiritual and radical intimacy with Nick Cave. It’s a wild ride.

“It’s really something else to stand on stage and sing a song that is just trembling quietly on the point of collapse, and to look into the faces of people and to see that they are inside the song with you. It was very, very moving; it felt like there was a kind of radical intimacy taking place.”

Cave lays it bare, but also does not give answers that others want or expect. He is vulnerable, honest, holds integrity to his story; to sometimes say I’m not sure, I don’t know. There is intelligence, instinct, beautifully articulated emotions and experiences, and yes, a radical intimacy throughout.

While all aspects of Cave’s life are discussed, it cycles and circles around the death of Cave’s son Arthur. How he and wife Susie grieved, slowly re-entered life through their creative storytelling and art making; how after tremendous grief and loss, joy found a home in the heart again.

“I think music can have a way of influencing the heart in a righteous way that enables us to do better, to be better. Especially when the songs get played live. Collectively, we can experience the music actually improving the condition of the listener. I see it all the time. I experience it myself well. It’s a very real thing.”

Loving Cave’s music is not essential to absorb the richness of the conversation. To hear the story is reward enough.

Big love,

Rachel x