Dirty Three Dirty Three by: Al Cottrill Mon:18-Jun-07 Label: Touch and Go Year: 1995 WB rating 87 out of 100

With their eponymous second album, Dirty Three tore onto the Australian music scene, a clawed beast tearing through the velour curtains of a basement stage. Three men possessed, working in unison, at once dissonant and perfectly synchronised: White’s huddled, fluid drumming, Turner’s gentle, solitary guitar, and Ellis’ raging violin; their music was as nothing heard before. They would not be Dirty Three without White and Turner’s consummate backing, but they would be nothing without Ellis’ violin. The three men were veterans at this stage, having amongst them performed in such acts as The Blackeyed Susans, The Moodists and Venom P. Stinger. In ‘93 they released their debut LP, Sad and Dangerous, a lo-fi patchwork of songs that hinted at future potency. It was not long until it was realised, followed early the next year by the amazing self-titled Dirty Three.

With clattering drums, sombre guitar and an unhinged violin alternating between sullen pizzicato, uplifting melody and wrenching wails, Dirty Three combine into a sum greater than their parts. They create tunes from dissonance, atmosphere from expectation and wrought emotion unlike any other band. Closer to a jazz band in make-up and purpose, they surpass post-rock, existing prior to it, and standing out from its genre. Importantly, there is no pretension in their sound. It would be easy for them to drift off into bloated excess or self-conscious introspection. Going further than other instrumental bands, they convey far more than simply emotion in their music, telling entire stories of love and loss. Phrases like ‘Everything’s Fucked’ and ‘Better Go Home Now’ are given greater context and meaning than words ever could, beautifully subjective stories told differently each time.

Given the nature of their music, and the powerful emotion of their early work, Dirty Three draw out the songs on this album, with only one song coming in below five minutes. Refusing to cut short their compositions, each one is allowed time to work through its phases, to rise and fall, moving from one emotion to the next. Opener ‘Indian Love Song’ is a perfect example, Ellis’ violin riding Turner’s driving, repetitive guitar riff for the entire 10 minutes, yet constantly changing within this. The song ebbs and flows, ever so slowly building, as Ellis weaves playful violin around its backing, like two lovers courting. There is no doubt to the euphoria as a harmonica tears in for the second time, howling adventure. It is a muscly opener, boisterous and rocking, ten minutes long and suggestive of so many things.

Do not confuse this proselytising with a perfect album. There is room for improvement; progression that was later achieved. Dirty Three is ragged around the edges, ‘Kim’s Dirt’ and ‘Odd Couple’ lack some of the purpose of other compositions, and ‘Indian Love Song’ bottom end is weak. Future efforts saw a mellowing in Dirty Three’s sound, a healing of the visceral edge that is clear here, and an increasingly complex and rich sound. Whether it was for better or worse depends on your preferences; each has its proponents. However, it cannot be denied that this album’s rough-and-ready sound, its ramshackle shake and jarring screech is beautiful in its own right. Here the music is inherently masculine, but masculinity in its true form, not a testosterone driven, contemporary distortion or a post-modern construct, but as this eternally flawed design, driven by conflicting instincts and emotions. It is a perfect definition of this turmoil, a band of men expressing emotion and their stories without words, a conceit in perfect parallel to the stereotype of the male condition.

The album’s songs draw from multitude sources, ranging from skipping boleros to gut-wrenching stomps. Each has its place on the album, often as a thankful foil to the excesses of nearby tracks, providing the respite or excitement required. ‘Better Go Home Soon’ is a leaden conflict, tearing itself apart as rhythm section and violin battle; ‘Dirty Equation’ is bleak and menacing, fast and repetitive, with White’s pounding drums and Turner’s concrete riffs driving its blunt edge. They are contrasted with the delicate, stumbling (Kim Salmon penned) ‘Kim’s Dirt’, an 11 minute exploration of texture and minimalism and the piano accordion of ‘Odd Couple’. ‘Last Night’ is one of the most evocative songs on the album, a lilting ballad built around harmonica and filled with resignation. If it does not evoke the morning’s regret and sorrow, that one-handed, slow, downwards wipe of the face at the previous nights events, then you have not experienced it. Then of course, there is ‘Everything’s Fucked’.

Whether Dirty Three wrote their perfect composition on their second album is not an issue. What is important is that in just over five minutes, two simple words are given such context: overwhelming resignation, frustration, and to an extent, acceptance. The kicking, screaming and hopeless crying are all covered, and ‘Everything’s Fucked’ is the perfect embodiment of those two words, of that absolute statement. Still now it is their trademark tune, the one for which fan’s scream at gigs, the one that gets you every time. And here it is, released in their first year. The guitar plays a far more central part on this song than others. It is forward in the mix and provides a base melody, allowing the violin to be used for effect instead, spring-boarding off the guitar into screaming crescendos. Played at full volume it is beautiful, both achingly delicate and incredibly powerful, especially when backed up with its twin in ‘Last Night’.

The strength of Dirty Three is not just their power and variability, but their consistency within these. No matter the tempo, the volume, the mood, the emotion is expressed with true balls and grit. You would be hard pressed to call these men, or their music, airy or pretentious. The album is not perfect; there are rough edges, off-kilter beats, some over-exaggerated instrumentation and under-done segments. But if anything, this is what makes the album, exhibiting the same human frailty and imperfection as the emotion of the music. Later albums would see an improvement in sound; in composition, depth and texture, but few would capture the rawness of power and emotion of Dirty Three.