Rather, I believe that, as a result of his transformative experience of grief over the past decade, Cave has begun publicly to remonstrate with those who accept an entirely modern secular, rationalist, individualistic worldview - and to argue that religion and music help us to recognise a deeper, more creative way of being. I do not believe that Cave is in any fundamental way against secularism (the split between the church and state), rationalism (a method of thinking that is governed by abstract and deductive principles), or individualism (freedom of the individual to make decisions based on their own personal beliefs). To be clear, however, challenging something does not mean dismissing it entirely. When examining Cave’s recent flurry of promotional activity, I have been taken by the way he provides a prominent example of a public entertainer who is challenging the overarching values that underlie the modern West: secularism, rationalism, and individualism.
Glimpses of series#
He has done this through a series of well-received concerts in Australia over the past summer, in numerous press interviews promoting the publication of his book Faith, Hope and Carnage, and by answering fans’ questions on his online platform, The Red Hand Files. Since the death of his two sons - Arthur in 2015, and then Jethro in 2022 - Cave has made a concerted effort to put the transformative suffering that lies at the heart of Christianity back in the public square.
Little wonder, then, that his largely secular audience has tended to regard his overt religiosity as a kind of quirk of personality - which they tolerate but don’t entirely understand. In many ways the Australian-born singer, musician, writer, artist Nick Cave has always been fashionably unfashionable.
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