Nick Cave’s lyrics have matured since his last album, now presenting a poetic, aching take on the world.

Nick Cave’s songwriting has never produced the love-at-first-listen type of music. His songs don’t snatch attention with bubble gum hooks, nor do they operate under the common pretense that louder is always better. They are honest — sometimes painfully so — and they get better with every listen.

Following this pattern, Push the Sky Away, released yesterday, is the 15th and perhaps most powerful album yet from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Their first since 2008’s Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, the band is back with a collection of songs that feels more thoughtfully poetic than any of their previous releases.

At age 55, Cave writes lyrics that are noticeably more mature — read: more subdued — than in the past. He continues to focus on themes of lost love and death, but the idea of growing old in a world of replenishing youth seems to be of special interest to him. A recovering heroin addict, Cave has evidently come to face the dull ache of his own mortality, and his lyrics reflect it.

In “Water’s Edge,” Cave sings of the undulating lust of youth. He croons, “It’s the will of love/ it’s the thrill of love/ ah, but the chill of love/ is coming on.” Matched with an eerie violin accompaniment from bandmate Warren Ellis, “Water’s Edge” sticks out as among the most poignant and nostalgic of Push the Sky Away.

Other highlights include “Jubilee Street” and “Higgs Boson Blues,” both of which evoke images of deep but not eternal sadness. The strength of the album lies in its ability to carry the listener through the inevitable dark periods of life to the light at the end of the tunnel.

In a sense, Push the Sky Away sounds like the joining of a book of poetry with a mini orchestra: two unselfish entities intent on enhancing the other. Waves of sonic texture weave over and into the vocals, raising emotional response at every turn. Cave avoids threadbare breathiness in pieces such as “Wide Lovely Eyes” and despite toying with various cliches, keeps cringe-worthy moments in songs like “We No Who U R” to a minimum.

The difference between Push the Sky Away and most of the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds discography is that no track on it feels like filler. Even the sprinkled sexual insinuations and random Miley Cyrus references work. It wouldn’t be a Nick Cave album without them.

Appropriately enough, Push the Sky Away ends with the title track, an anthem of individuality with an overriding message that life is best lived as a progression. And although he dwelt longingly on the past in songs found earlier on the album, Cave seems ready to move on with his life. He sings, “And if your friends think that you should do it different/ and if they think that you should do it the same/ you’ve got it, just keep on pushing and, keep on pushing and/ push the sky away.”

As a legend of the indie music world and member of a band with one of the largest cult followings in the industry, this is a credo that seems to have worked for Nick Cave. He may not be conventional, but he’s sincere with both himself and his music.

As it is, Push the Sky Away is a tour de force that stands out as one of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ best, if not the very best. And with no foreseeable end in sight for the band, an aging bottle of wine might just be the perfect metaphor for their sound.

It’s scary to think they’re only getting better.