Concept albums don’t fly with Swole Ear. Story records require close lyrical examination in order to reach optimal effectiveness. Usually, I’m trying to simultaneously listen to a record and write these quirky little posts that you all have come to love and depend on. When it comes down to it, I just can’t listen to the lyrics all that closely.
What a shame; I would love to hear the words on this album. This is a record about Lazarus, the guy that Jesus brought back to life in the New Testament. Here’s the catch: it takes place in 21st Century New York City. As interesting as a concept as that is, I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t really pick up on any of it; I got all of that from the album’s Wikipedia entry.
I still got the gist of this album, though. Swole Ear isn’t a complete waste of time, just a partial one.
From what I could tell, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is a pretty solid record. If anything, Nick Cave has a really cool and unique voice—that’s always something that wins me over. No, I don’t really know exactly what he is sing-talking about, but I do know that it sounds good.
As for the Bad Seeds, they’re just as good with their instruments as Cave is with his voice. Lazarus has a cool, semi-punk sound, like punk rock recorded on decent equipment by real musicians—it’s still kind of harsh and angry, but a lot of thought went into the music.
So no, I can’t personally confirm that this album is in fact about a 21st Century resurrection, but I can guarantee that I like the way it falls upon my ears.
Swole Ear 
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