Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood

Now in his 70s, you can excuse art rock godfather John Cale for being a little confused by the modern world.

On the oddly-titled Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood, this confusion plays out as something between wry amusement and resignation.

There are scattered clues and fragments of explanations for the dour mood throughout. On “December Rains” he complains, apropos of nothing, of “Google getting on your nerves”, while elsewhere he makes the curious observation that “Soft porn rioting is now online”.

“Nookie Wood” sees him positively defeated, the song’s initial nervy feel eventually winding down like a deflated balloon. “Mothra” is similarly damaged, with Autotune used to disorienting effect.

Opening track “I Wanna Talk 2 U”, co-written and co-produced with Danger Mouse, is probably the most successful of Cale’s attempts here to fuse electronica with these songs of dislocation.

At times though, the slickness of the production works against the downbeat lyrics and obscures Cale’s choppy visions of modern dislocation and suspicion.

Cale has always been intrigued by the possibilities of repetition, and employs hypnotic repetition of phrases throughout the record to strange effect. On the plaintive “Mary”, he  says the words “safer than sorry” until the everyday platitude begins to seem profoundly strange.

Cohesive in mood and concept, Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood is a consistent record, one that neither hits towering highs nor plunges to embarrassing lows. It’s a record that’s always interesting without ever  being compelling.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine