Nick Cave Digs Up A New Album

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds will release their 14th studio album, the extra exclamatory Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, on April 8 through Anti- Records.

The band's first release since 2004's Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus double LP contains 11 new tracks. It was produced by the group and Nick Launay (Silverchair, Talking Heads) and recorded at State Of The Ark Studios in London, England last July. You can hear the title track and five other album cuts on Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' MySpace page.

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! was inspired by the story of Lazarus, a character in the New Testament who Jesus raised from the dead. Cave says the story disturbed him when he attended church as a child and, to deal with that traumatic experience, he rewrote the tale, set it in New York City and incorporated another narrative featuring Harry Houdini, who Cave calls history's "second greatest escapologist" after Lazarus.

Cave and Bad Seeds members Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos released a self-titled album under the Grinderman moniker last April.

Cave is working on his second screenplay for Australian director John Hillcoat, following his work on 2006's The Proposition. He's also labouring over his second novel, the follow-up to 1989's And The Ass Saw The Angel. Cave also released a book of poetry and plays, King Ink, in 1988. He was named London record shop Rough Trade's inaugural Counter Culture Icon in February.

Here are the tracks on Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!:

"Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!"
"Today's Lesson"
"Moonland"
"Night Of The Lotus Eaters"
"Albert Goes West"
"We Call Upon The Author"
"Hold On To Yourself"
"Lie Down Here"
"Jesus Of The Moon"
"Midnight Man"
"More News From Nowhere"