Blowin' Indie Wind Dirty Three's New Album Strings Together 'Angst' and 'Lullaby'

Author: Erika Mercer

Imagine you are on a boat for several weeks, floating somewhere in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight.

Some days are still and peaceful -- you can hear the water lap softly against the hull of the boat and feel the gentle spray of salt-water on your cheeks.

Other days you encounter ferocious weather -- the boat dips and rises violently, gushes of water drench the deck. You cannot see beyond the edges of the boat; you cannot hear anything but a lashing wind.

Throughout the journey, though, the steady, relentless rocking of the boat continues -- you soon grow so used to it that your body sways in sync with its rhythm, adjusts to its movement.

When you step onto dry land at the end of your trip you feel off balance, your equilibrium unaccustomed to the evenness of earth beneath your feet.

Since its conception in 1992, Dirty Three, a trio of instrumentalists from Melbourne, Australia, has worked to hypnotize audiences worldwide with its unique and compelling sound.

Comprised of Jim White on percussion, Warren Ellis on violin and Mick Turner on guitar and bass, the band released its first album, "Sad & Dangerous," in 1994, followed by a self-titled album in 1995 and "Horse Stories" in 1996.

Over the next several years, the band toured extensively and released various other full-length albums and EPs, including "Ocean Songs," (1998), "In the Fishtank" (a collaboration with the band, Low, in 1999) and "Whatever You Love, You Are" (2000).

Their next full-length album is due out on Feb. 18, 2003, on Touch & Go Records, entitled, "She Has No Strings Apollo."

Dirty Three, over the years, has chosen and used its instruments in such a way as to not only distinguish themselves from other instrumental acts, but also to avoid being pigeonholed into a specific genre. White explains, "For me, personally, if [our music] sounds like any particular genre description too much, then I would probably turn away from it a bit; not that I don't like genre music, in particular Country Music, but we are not working in a genre as I know it, and I am pretty sure and hopeful that we are not a pastiche."

In fact, Dirty Three does everything but imitate: their violin-led music is enormously innovative and, as a result, highly acclaimed.

Ellis' classical training on the violin, along with the band's close connections with other musicians such as Nick Cave, allow Dirty Three to both be "lauded by the music intelligentsia" and to "embody the primitive appeal of rock 'n roll unlike any other band."

The trio combines elements of classical, folk, jazz and rock music in its experimental improvisation, creating, as one critic put it, music that ranges from "from angst to lullaby."

Often dominated by the violin -- played in a distinctive, scraping manner -- and flavored with sparse percussion and guitar, Dirty Three's sound is energetic and eerie, wistful and cutting. At times, the music sweeps and explodes in violent gusts, then settles gently into a tranquilizing peacefulness and calm. It is cinematic in its grandeur and lulling in its evenness -- pitching fiercely and swaying soothingly.

Dirty Three creates organic music that sows its roots deeply and almost imperceptibly inside the listener, drawing them into the fluid void that they create, whipping them, rocking them and hypnotizing them until they are utterly defenseless and rapt.

"She Has No Strings Apollo," a seven-song masterpiece, both draws from Dirty Three's previous trademark sound and also veers off in fresh directions.

More subtle and less thunderous than much of the band's earlier work, "Apollo" reaches new depth and mystery.

There is a story hidden within the music, but that story remains hauntingly obscured, never materializing from inside the playing.

For instance, in the first song on the album, "Alice Wading," tiptoes softly in the beginning -- the drums beat quietly and spellbindingly, the violin scratches faintly in the background like nails on a chalkboard, the guitar sings almost imperceptibly.

The song continuously threatens to erupt, to break its steady monotony, but yet it never does. Instead it every so slowly and undetectably penetrates into the consciousness of the listener.

Its rhythm, its sway and its mysterious emotion become inextricably part of the listener.

The hidden story is one of imminent danger, of threat, suspicion and fear, yet one that ends irresolutely, delicately.

There is no violence and no explosion, only the threat thereof, and that threat dwindles into oblivion by the end of the song.

The third song on "Apollo, "Long Way to Go With No Punch," on the other hand, is tender and sweet -- it is a calm day on a boat journey.

"Long Way to Go With No Punch" invites the listener to recuperate from the wearing threats of danger and stressful episodes.

It sways and rolls peacefully, acting to tranquilize the listener, provide a break for reflection.

Overall, "Apollo" is a brilliant next step for Dirty Three -- an album full of mysteries and tacit emotions, which still stays true to the band's musical experimentation and originality. It is a journey on a constantly pitching, swaying boat -- one that never disappoints in its sense of adventure, daring and emotional timeliness.

It carries the listener's emotions into unimagined realms without them even noticing -- until they step back onto shore, that is.

Dirty Three will be on tour in North America from April to May of 2003. For more info, check out their Web site at: www.dirtythree.com. Tune into WRMC 91.1 this Wednesday from 8 to 10 p.m. to hear DJ Nate Hogan feature the Dirty Three on his show, "Too Little Too Late."