Whatever You Love You Are
It is remarkably easy to get washed into the turbulent sea by Dirty Three's gorgeously shambolic instrumental gusts. Compressing gently strummed guitars, sweeping violin, and hints of percussion into forms that suggest everything from mournful Celtic airs to stirring Baltic melodies to the buzzing cacophony ofSonic Youth, Dirty Three are able to sound remarkably fresh and innovative, yet still raw and improvisationally energetic. At times, Dirty Three burn white hot, blazing a path of passion that leads directly to a stirring climax; other times, hardly anything happens except for a plaintive swipe at a guitar and a pensive rap on a drum. Either approach leads to a thoughtful, satisfying musical journey. While not substantially different than eitherOcean SongsorHorse Stories--violinist Warren Ellis leads the tune and establishes the pace and melody, guitarist Mick Turner strums with halting subtly, and drummer Jim White adds faint percussive punctuation--there is still plenty of emotional and musical territory to discover onWhatever You Love, You Are. On "Some Summers They Drop Like Flies," a gently plucked violin gives way to a swirling, multitracked melody and a beguiling string tangle from the guitar. On "Stellar," the guitar establishes a hypnotic web of picked notes and whispering chords while the drums and fiddle improvise. At first, it hardly sounds as if a tune will emerge, but one does, slowly, mysteriously, and with all the rough, poetic eloquence that has become Dirty Three's trademark.Whatever You Love, You Are, while not a revelation in the band's career, is yet another wonderful, beguiling, and beautiful piece of music.--S. Duda