Stranger Than Kindness

Nick Cave

The book every Nick Cave fan’s coffee table is crying out for.

At the time of writing, the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen should have been hosting a sprawling exhibition celebrating the life and artistic genius of Nick Cave. Like everything else this spring, it was halted in its tracks, but this magnificent book accompanying the collection offers a beautiful alternative. A visual history of Cave’s life, it’s annotated by him with the same warmth and wit that have made his Red Hand Files series of letters to his fans so special.

As for the images, they give more insight into the workings of his mind than any interview could. Homemade dictionaries delight in the obscure corners of the English language; teen Cave’s shopping lists (featuring essentials such as floral shirts, hair dye and a crucifix) reveal his aesthetic vision for his earliest musical endeavours; a DIY book of images found at flea markets, featuring saints, cherubs, old pornographic postcards and locks of human hair is the ideal visualisation of his songs, in which base human urges and holy imagery so often entwine. Scripts, lyrics, childhood photos, diary entries, sketches, paintings, the contents of a wallet from 1985… everything is given meaning and thought – even a Kylie Minogue handbag he picked up in a shop in Manchester.

The middle section, meanwhile, is handed over to American author Darcey Steinke, who has written a fascinating and scholarly essay on Cave’s work that sets him alongside some of literature’s greatest figures.

Most of all there’s romance at the heart of the book. When Cave writes about seeing his wife Susie for the first time, it’s an earth-shattering declaration of instantaneous love that few other than the great poets could handle with any kind of dignity.

Exhaustive, gorgeous and thoughtful, this book of treasures will delight and inspire any admirer of Cave’s work. ■■■■■■■■■■