44. The Dirty Three- Cinder

For six decorated albums long has this Australian trio been underway, leaving their tracks well within their stomping ground of instrumental avantgarde, chamber music and post-rock. So what new ways can this band travel to? Warren Ellis, violinist extraordinaire had for the last few years opened up a new pathway as part of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds and developed a more direct, explosive style. The Dirty Three always used their sprawling musical pieces between that explosiveness and meditative calm, using their improvisational skills to qualitative ever growing heights. With Cinder there's that marked change. That starts off with 19 tracks so less time for development and more opportunities to exploit the various moods they can develop. More instruments- bouzouki, bagpipes, zither, organ, bass- added to the palette mean more ways of communicating their unique sounds of sorrow. Unique is also the two vocal pieces with Cat Power's Chan Marshall (oh, an album with those two powers would indeed be the greatest) and Sally Timms performing admirably but it is Mick Turner, Warren Ellis and Jim White's versatility that steals the show.