Dirty Three – Love Changes Everything – Album Review
by Killian Laher

The gaps between Dirty Three albums have grown ever longer in recent years, 7 years between Cinder and Toward The Low Sun and now 12 years have passed between that album and their latest.  It consists of six tracks, each entitled Love Changes Everything, I to VI.  As they have done in the past, the opener is a little bit of a rough ride, with Warren Ellis’ violin over Mick Turner’s scratchy guitar, with a seemingly random-sounding beat provided by Jim White. The track sounds like it’s about to lurch into chaos, conjuring up the slightly unhinged side of early Velvet Underground.

A complete change of tack for the piano-led II, a quiet, icy piano piece, with distant snatches of violin and guitar.  The whole thing is underpinned by uneasy-sounding keyboards.  III is similar but looser, and more impressionistic, meandering gently for nearly eight minutes, allowing the violin to burst through occasionally.

Ellis’ gorgeous, swirling violin line comes in gradually on IV accompanied by guitar noodling, while V builds into a noisier track with a rolling, distorted guitar pattern.  They save the longest track for last with the 10-minute VI.  Beginning with Ellis’ somewhat distant, yet crazed, violin, it builds gradually with Jim White’s gentle cacophony of drums becoming more evident as the track wears on to an inscrutable yet compelling conclusion.

As Dirty Three albums go, it’s less immediate and arguably more challenging to the listener than any of its predecessors, which I suspect will make for a very rewarding listen in the months ahead.

Love Changes Everything I