IN the days following the death of his 15-year-old son Arthur in 2015, Nick Cave ventured out for takeaway food at a favourite local vegetarian restaurant. As he paid the cashier, he received an overwhelming reminder of the unshowy, base-level goodness of humanity. Speaking to Seán O’Hagan in Faith, Hope And Carnage, he explains: “She gave me my food and I gave her the money and – ah, sorry, it’s quite hard to talk about this – as she gave me back my change, she squeezed my hand. Purposefully.”
Culled from 40 hours of conversations recorded during lockdown, Faith, Hope And Carnage gives painful insight into the immense personal tragedy that informed Skeleton Tree and Ghosteen, and how it has changed Cave’s worldview. “I think in a way my work has become an explicit rejection of cynicism and negativity,” he explains.