On the demo-turned-album Sad & Dangerous and their two albums on Touch And Go, Dirty Three redefine the word melancholy with some of the most expressive instrumental rock music I have ever heard. The secret behind Dirty Three’s ability to paint such vivid imagery without any words is the classically-trained violinist Warren Ellis, who started out by writing and performing music for plays. Jim White’s Elvin Jones-inspired drumming and Mick Turner’s expressionist guitar added bleeding colors to the aural portraits.
The slow songs combined the eerie gloom of fellow Aussie Nick Cave (whom they toured with) with the sun-baked Italian western film music of Ennio Morricone. The albums also included rockers that built into explosive crescendos to balance out the ennui and make the heart pound. Unfortunately, ennui wins out on Ocean Songs. The songs meander about so quietly that I don’t even notice when the album has finished. It’s not until the three songs on the bonus CD when the band finally adds some juice. Previously, even the quiet songs sounded passionate and memorable.
While the band’s raucous energy of their previous albums is missed, it’s clear that the band did not want to repeat themselves, even if that means leaving their peak work behind them. But if one recalibrates expectations, the skeletal gaps that recording engineer Steve Albini (he denies being a producer) left behind might actually be what makes this album so unique. The bare-bones recording plays a key role in the plentiful moments of immeasurably stark beauty. After listening to the emotionally exhausting early releases, put this on as you drift into dreams of aquatic voyages and black whirlpools of despair (whee!). | Bandcamp
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