Dirty Three
Dirty Three
Score:80
Reviewer: Al Cottrill
Label: Touch & Go (USA), Anchor & Hope (Australia)
Reviewed: Jun 18th '07, Released:1996
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, 10 minutes long and suggestive of so many things.
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 night’s 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.
The strength of Dirty Three is not just their power and variability, but their consistency within these. 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.
