Nick Cave details the unreleased songs he's debuted on his North American tour

Nick Cave previously revealed that he has almost finished work on a new album with The Bad Seeds. He has now detailed his process about sitting with new songs, and debuting them on the road to see if he's able to breathe new life in them, in order to find out whether they can sit on the new record.

"When I’m working on an album with The Bad Seeds, I occasionally record a song alone at the piano. Stylistically, these songs usually sit outside the new record and they are generally fragmentary things, circular in shape, softly sung, unspectacular and unformed. There is little love for them from the band, and they aren’t strong enough to compete with the larger, more imposing songs - consequently they tend to fall by the wayside," he says.

Cave goes on to reveal that one of the songs, "Euthanasia", which he played in Asheville and Cleveland, is a song that he wrote around the time of the 2016 album, Skeleton Tree, which was dismissed at the time, and "has now become one of my favourites".

"When I listen back to the recordings, I’ll come across one or two of these songs, languishing in some forgotten corner, and I will find myself secretly moved by their unassuming loveliness. As a result I become very attached to them," he explains.

One of the people who wrote into The Red Hand Files specifically mentioned an untitled song which he played in Chicago. In response, Cave said: "The song that I played in Chicago is another such song, but this one didn’t survive long enough to even warrant a title."

After sharing the lyrics, he wrote: "The sentiment is simple and softly spoken, the song unable to even declare its name, but still it is a special song, full of unspecified emotional impact and a great pleasure to play. Ansel, I am glad you enjoyed it. I think I’ll call the song "To Be Found"."

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds last released an album in 2019. Ghosteen was followed by a collaboration with Cave and Warren Ellis of the Bad Seeds, in the form of the 2021 album, Carnage.