Nick Cave: "Breathless"

On our way back from lunch today, my friend and I wandered into the soon-to-be closed down Tower Records on Broadway to browse their clearance racks. They've been trying to clear out their backstock for a couple of months now and most of the good stuff is gone, but we thought we'd have a look anyway, in the hopes of finding some hidden gem.

We sifted through the messy bins for half an hour or so without success, but luckily as we moved over to the singles section I spied a copy of a Nick Cave single. It turned out to be "Breathless" from his latest album with The Bad Seeds, Abattoir Blues. I hadn't heard anything from the album, but after reading a transcript of Cave's lecture to a group of students in Vienna in 1999 (which you can find here), I was eager to get my hands on all the material I possibly could from this truly enthralling songwriter.

I put in the disc a few hours ago and I can't stop replaying it. "Breathless" is a simple pop song (clocking in at just over three minutes) that demonstrates just how versatile Nick Cave is. With it's airy flute runs and it's nylon-string guitar chords, the song is actually pretty. I was amazed that I was listening to the same artist that wrote the ferocious "Deanna" and who is responsible for the lecherous (and sometimes hilarious) vocal on Grinderman's current lead-off single "No Pussy Blues."

"Breathless" is a simple ditty that you hum in the early morning lamenting an infidelity. It is a sweet song sung by a world-weary sinner. It is a song of windswept beauty whose mystery beguiles. I could continue to attempt these vain poetics, but I instead simply implore you to listen.