Following the positive response to Nick Cave’s solo piano performance at London’s Alexandra Palace in July, the show will be made into a film titled Idiot Prayer – Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace, which will be screened globally on Nov. 5. Additionally, the music from the show will be released in an album, available on streaming services, vinyl and CD on Nov. 20.
Cave commented on both the film and the album:
The film ‘Idiot Prayer’ evolved from my ‘Conversations With…’ events. I loved playing deconstructed versions of my songs at these shows, distilling them to their essential forms. I felt I was rediscovering the songs all over again, and started to think about going into a studio and recording these reimagined versions at some stage – whenever I could find the time.
Then, the pandemic came – the world went into lockdown, and fell into an eerie, self-reflective silence. It was within this silence that I began to think about the idea of not only recording the songs, but also filming them. We worked with the team at Alexandra Palace – a venue I have played and love – on securing a date to film just as soon as they were allowed to re-open the building to us.
On 19th June 2020, surrounded by Covid officers with tape measures and thermometers, masked-up gaffers and camera operators, nervous looking technicians and buckets of hand gel, we created something very strange and very beautiful that spoke into this uncertain time, but was in no way bowed by it. This is the album taken from that film. It is a prayer into the void – alone at Alexandra Palace – a souvenir from a strange and precarious moment in history. I hope you enjoy it.
Watch Nick Cave perform “Galleon Ship” from Idiot Prayer below. Preorder the album here, and if you’re not in the U.S., you can book cinema tickets here. The U.S. on-sale date is yet to be announced.
