REVIEW: Dirty Three, Whatever You Love, You Are (Touch & Go)
- Chris Hill
The Dirty Three, with their sixth album (if you count the recent Australian-only Praise soundtrack), continue to release music that enchants and beguiles the senses. Violinist Warren Ellis coaxes sad, senses-filling visions from his instrument: a storm-tossed ship, a sailor's wife gazing out to sea from a beckoning lighthouse, a drunken man staring sadly at his empty bottle. Grim? Hardly. There are many moments of gentle beauty as well: tender, midnight caresses to go with the thunder and squall, all within the encircling arms of a single song.
Like guitarist Mick Turner's thickly-brushed paintings which have graced their recent covers, the band's music is richly imagistic. Listeners, aside from a titular nudge, are left to paint their own pictures with the songs. "Some Things I Just Don't Want to Know" -- what things? "I Really Should've Gone Out Last Night" -- why? Who knows? For them, the journey is as important as the destination, and they don't give a paint-by- numbers pattern of vocals or lyrics to answer these questions, only instrumental suggestions for hue, tone, and color.
With Whatever..., you have six canvasses to fill. In "Some Summers They Drop Like Flys," a wind-blown Scheherazade pinwheels from the heavens to land on earth, numbed and drunk with wonder. "I Offered It Up To The Stars & The Night Sky" begins as a secluded meadow of violins awakening gradually, joining one another until the ground is awash in notes vying for their place in the moonshine. A prelude, the violins then subside into silence, and the piece begins. Jim White's drums guide a steady guitar and a questioning, ecstatic violin to a glorious crescendo. The interplay between the three musicians here, and throughout, is phenomenal. Small wonder that indie luminaries such as Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Nick Cave, and Will Oldham have sought out their services, and count themselves among their fans.
After the last track, "Lullabye for Christie," finishes all too soon, the listener departs with the knowledge that when night falls, the Dirty Three are a boon precursor to sleep, a soft cocoon of beauty and understanding to transport one's soul safe through the night.
Watch for upcoming tour dates at http://www.dirtythree.com/, as the Dirty Three continue their practice of tour-only releases with Lowlands, an eight song CD. Live, the band is a beast of manic energy that prances and howls on stage, and not to be missed.
