Dirty Three’s newest album, Love Changes Everything on Drag City Records, is the first from the veteran trio in 12 years. The trio mixes their avant-garde sounds into a sonic whole.
The Melbourne, Australia-based outfit, consisting of Warren Ellis, Mick Turner, and Jim White, has been at this since 1992. They use a sparse instrumental combination of guitar drums and viola/violin/piano/synthesizer/loops/percussion for their sounds, as things rarely become overloaded with production, keeping tracks clean throughout.
The six efforts presented here don’t have names, just numbers, hinting at a cohesive piece. Yet the ‘songs’ only link up some of the time as the band allows each effort to be part of a whole or stand on its own. Some of the outings are more successful than others as the band searches for its collective sound as a unit.
The opening, “Love Changes Everything I,” starts with noise-laden fuzz tones as the odd drum fill and guitar line plops in, finally coalescing with pumping drums, only to end right when it gets interesting. “Love Changes Everything II is a total change of gears, with piano and sweeping synths coloring the track, which ends up dully meandering too long without any lasting effect.
Better is “Love Changes Everything III,” which feels like slowly waking up on a summer morning with tittering percussion, vibrating strings, and piano. “Love Changes Everything IV is softly flowing throughout, as the tune is languidly charming. “Love Changes Everything V is the most abrasive, as the click-clacking grows into feedback and repetition, becoming more adventurous and angular as it grows.
Dirty Three clearly saved their best for last, as “Love Changes Everything VI” is the album highlight. The over ten-minute outing starts with buzzing strings and gorgeous piano fills, slowly bringing the track to life as the cinematic excursion swells with pride, culminating in a well-earned finale.
Love Changes Everything will not, in fact, change everything, but the artistic outing will find fans among adventurous audiophiles as Dirty Three weave and build their sonic world.
