Album Review: Mick Harvey, Intoxicated Women

Innovative progressive pop from former bad seed
The extended family of former members of the Birthday Party, the Boys Next Door and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds have gone on to do some awesome things. Barry Adamson has done numerous solo albums and worked on scoring David Lynch’s Lost Highway, while Blixa Bargeld still helms German industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten. 
Mick Harvey, meanwhile, was Nick Cave’s right hand man since their school days in the early ’70s. In 2010, he left the Bad Seeds to spend more time with his family and pursue other projects, and also confessed that frustrations over song arrangements led to a strained relationship with Cave. In addition to his solo career, Harvey has collaborated with his namesake PJ Harvey (no relation) for over 12 years. 
Coming hot on the heels of last year’s Delirium Tremens, the brilliantly titled Intoxicated Women finds Harvey exploring an innovative style of progressive chamber pop. You realise that if his musical imagination is this expansive, it’s little wonder he felt somewhat constrained in the Bad Seeds. It’s good to see him enjoying such a prolific purple patch.