Nick Cave drops his new single ‘Grief’ encouraged by a fan’s letter

Nick Cave has finally put out his new single “Grief.” It is inspired by an October 2018 letter that a fan sent to the singer’s Red Hand Files site.

This single comes after a month’s surprise quarantine of Cave recorded new album Carnage. The “Grief” single A-side shows his spoken word response to a follower named Cynthia. The fan asked the singer— whose son named Arthur passed away in 2015 — if he felt his son was still talking to him through dreams. The music is both performed and written by Warren Ellis

“It seems to me, that if we love, we grieve. That’s the deal. That’s the pact. Grief and love are forever intertwined,” Cave wrote at the time, with his letter now forming the lyrics of the spoken word “Letter to Cynthia,” featuring music by Bad Seeds’ Warren Ellis. “Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable. There is a vastness to grief that overwhelms our minuscule selves. We are tiny, trembling clusters of atoms subsumed within grief’s awesome presence.”

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“My reply was the first time I was able to articulate my own contradictory feelings of grief. Letters like Cynthia’s have helped bring me and many others back to the world,” said Cave about the “Grief” 7-inch single — available now through the Cave Things site

The “Grief” 7-inch single also includes “Song for Cynthia” on the B-side. It is both performed and written by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Both tracks were recorded in November 2020 at London’s Soundtree Studios. “They are beautiful pieces and I hope you like them,” Cave added.