Nick Cave, Nicholas Lens

L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S. (2LP)

Perhaps best-known for his distinctive vocal style, Australian polymath Nick Cave here steps into the spotlight as librettist rather than performer, for a second operatic project with Belgian composer Nicholas Lens. Having collaborated on Shell Shock in 2014, they joined forces again during the global lockdown to create a new work, L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S.. At Lens’s request, Cave penned 12 litanies – “petitions to a divine maker” – simple, moving texts which the composer then wove into what he calls a “modest chamber opera of sleeping dreams”.

TRACK LIST

1. Litany of Divine Absence
2. Litany of The First Encounter
3. Litany of Blooming
4. Litany of The Sleeping Dream
5. Litany of The Yearning
6. Litany of Fragmentation
7. Litany of The Forsaken
8. Litany of Gathering Up
9. Litany of Transformation
10. Litany of Godly Love
11. Litany of The Unnamed
12. Litany of Divine Presence