A Change in the Climate
On Nick Cave, Greta Thunberg, and our changing sense of urgency.
Nick Cave, September 2019 (Thomas Ehretsmann for The Washington Post)
Nineteenth-century Americans used to gather at the docks for the arrival of the ship that would bring them the latest installment of a Dickens novel. The story had gone to print months before—their presence wouldn’t hasten its arrival or change its outcome—but still, the fans stood on the wharf. In my youth, music lovers used to queue around the block, itching to be among the first to buy an album on its day of release. There was a fear that all copies might be snaffled up and there’d be none left for latecomers. Fans of Led Zeppelin or Nirvana would gather in the predawn dark, clutching their thermos and sandwich, prepared to wait as long as it took to show that they just couldn’t wait. Patient impatience.
On October 3, 2019, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds unveiled their latest album, . Not in a record store, but on YouTube. It was described is in the machine.
