"Heathen Child" is the fourth single by alternative rock group Grinderman

Grinderman

Grinderman is an alternative rock band formed by Nick Cave , Warren Ellis , Martyn P. Casey and Jim Sclavunos in London, United Kingdom in 2006...

 and first from their second studio album, Grinderman 2

Grinderman 2

Grinderman 2 is the second studio album by Grinderman, a side project of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in September 2010.-Background and production:...

. Released on September 6, 2010, the song is the first release from Grinderman in three years and is also the band's first limited edition double a-side single.

Background and production

The song has been described by the band as a song that:

cuts a deep seductively heavy groove interjected with dazzling squalls of saw-tooth distortion. It abounds in lyrical imagery at turns lascivious, paranoid, philosophic, absurd and flat out abusive. The video, vividly directed by long-time collaborator John Hillcoat, brings the ominous sensuality and surreal malevolence of the lyrics to life; but it also demonstrates clear evidence of the fun and imagination Grinderman have working together.

Cave spoke of the song with Uncut magazine, mentioning that "Heathen Child" was "a quest to break from narrative song-writing in to something more impressionistic."

On July 27, 2010, the final studio version of the song was previewed on music website Soundcloud by Mute Records

Mute Records

Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...

.

Critical reception

The song was described on Sonic Masala as "squalid, diseased, filthy, and oh so seductive."

Track listing and formats

Digital download

1. "Heathen Child" – 5:01

Limited edition 12" vinyl

1. "Heathen Child" – 5:01
2. "Star Charmer"
3. "Super Heathen Child"

Music video

A series of trailers for the album directed by John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat is an Australian screenwriter and film director.Hillcoat was born in Queensland, Australia, and was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. As a child, his paintings were featured in the Art Gallery of Hamilton. He has repeatedly worked with Nick Cave and also the band Depeche Mode...

 have been released on Grinderman's official website and by Mute Records since June 28, 2010. Recorded near Westway in London, the music video for "Heathen Child" features a "naked lady lying in a bath of something milky." Cave explained elements of the music video noting that "the video follows the fortunes of a worringly young white girl as she sits in a bath, confronted by the panoply of fiends that occupy her subconcious." The video premiered on NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

's Video Box on August 9, 2010.

Musicians and personnel

Grinderman

• Nick Cave
  Nick Cave
  Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
  
   – lead
  Lead vocalist
  The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
  
   vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , electric
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
   guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , organ
  Organ (music)
  The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
  
  , piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , production
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  
• Warren Ellis
  Warren Ellis (musician)
  Warren Ellis is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer, best known for his work with Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman and his soundtrack scores with Nick Cave. He plays violin, piano, bouzouki, guitar, flute, mandolin, and tenor guitar...
  
   – acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  , viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  , violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  , electric bouzouki
  Bouzouki
  The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
  
  ], electric
  Electric mandolin
  The electric mandolin is an instrument tuned and played as the mandolin and amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar.As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms:...
  
   mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , backing vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
  , production
• Martyn Casey – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , acoustic guitar, backing vocals, production
• Jim Sclavunos
  Jim Sclavunos
  Jim Sclavunos is an American rock music drummer, percussionist and producer.Sclavunos, a half-Greek and half-Italian from Brooklyn, New York , is well-known for his exceptional height at 6'7". Sclavunos has performed with Sonic Youth, Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Lydia Lunch and was a member of 8...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  , backing vocals, production

Guest musicians

• Robert Fripp
  Robert Fripp
  Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
  
   – electric guitar on "Super Heathen Child"

Technical personnel

• Nick Launay
  Nick Launay
  Nick Launay is an English record producer and recording engineer. He is currently one of the most sought after producers in the world due to his current success with recent albums by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds...
  
   – production, engineering
  Audio engineering
  An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
  
  
• Kevin Paul - co-production
• Tom Hough - assistant production (at State of the Ark)
• David "Saxon" Greenep - assistant production (at State of the Ark)
• Russell Fawkus - assistant production (at Assault & Battery 2)