Dirty Three
Toward The Low Sun

The Dirty Three were formed in 1992 in Melbourne, Australia, from a crazy idea by a renowned local violinist: Warren Ellis. He, who over time would become the frontman of the band and especially a great protégé of Nick Cave (joining the Bad Seeds), thought of amplifying the sound of his violin, even applying distortion. Alongside Ellis's violin, there's Mick Turner's almost always electric guitar (who also designs the covers) and Jim White's drums, which make use of brushes, until then almost exclusively played in jazz. The music of the Dirty Three is purely instrumental and, frankly, it's complex to classify it into a genre, because it's almost unique, perhaps the first and only of its kind to use these instruments in a certain way. It could be said, in summary, that the music of the Dirty Three is a mixture of jazz, folk, and something psychedelic. The trio provides unique, sublime, and literally moving sounds. They exploded with their magical Ocean Songs, or perhaps even earlier with Horse Stories, which established them on the international scene.

After six years since their last album "Cinder," they return with possibly their final work "Toward The Low Sun." It's talked about as a return to the origins, in fact, most of the tracks are particularly aggressive and strong, yet at the same time captivating, as always. The album opens with the track 'Furnace Skies', with its high rhythm and recurring almost 60s keyboard sounds suggesting a modern psychedelia, one of the best tracks. It continues with 'Sometimes I Forget You've Gone', after the storm comes the calm, a very sweet and romantic piece, with a tear-jerking piano, yet White still doesn't want to stop and while his two colleagues decide to slow down the tempo, he engages in a series of quite virtuosic solos, almost detaching from the general flow of the piece. As you continue listening to the album, it becomes evident that improvisation takes on renewed importance in the music of Dirty Three. The third track is one of the least appealing of the album, 'Moon On The Land', which extremely recalls works like Horse Stories, hence something already heard, but 'the already heard of Dirty Three' is worth more than many tracks we are forced to hear on the radio today. The string instruments and Ellis's violin gain renewed importance, also noteworthy is Mick Turner's not bad acoustic guitar.

'Rising Below', based on the use of two violins and Turner's arpeggios, is one of the most beautiful, it's almost like a prelude, a prelude that ends with nervousness, a prelude that ends with the union of the violins and the guitar distorted to the maximum. We arrive at 'The Pier', another truly beautiful, almost nostalgic track with Ellis's violin, as always, making you emotional, making you soar. 'Rain Song' is mainly composed of the sounds emitted by Ellis's violin, Turner plucks the guitar and White accompanies very well. Here we are at 'That Was Was', the trio lets loose. A buildup of anger is served, a buildup of anger characterized by distorted noises and tonal contrasts. After listening to such tracks, you understand that Ellis is a great musician, who with his violin manages to convey something truly magical, worthy of what a human voice transmits (did you notice you didn't miss it in the tracks of Dirty Three?). We come to 'Ashen Snow', in my opinion, the most beautiful piece of the album, my favorite. At the forefront is Ellis’s violin, emitting sublime sounds, the piano also gains importance, carrying the rhythm forward, Turner's acoustic, once again, is delightful, confirming himself as an excellent guitarist, White is very good at accompanying the piece, applying those brushes very gently yet at the same time incisively. The album ends with 'You Greet Her Ghost', the ninth track, not particularly incisive, Turner accompanies with a series of chords as Ellis engages in his solos.

An excellent album as far as I'm concerned, not at the level of the old Dirty Three, like those of "Ocean Songs," but still more than sufficient, certainly one of the best of 2012.