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 gives painful insight into the immense personal tragedy that informed and , 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.
