Review
The elemental tides of sound have finally shifted again, as Dirty Three emerges from a 12-year hiatus with "Love Changes Everything," their latest album. Like a quietly gathering storm, the Australian instrumental trio begins their journey with a lo-fi whisper in the first track, slowly unfolding into lush, contemplative tapestries that shimmer like a summer haze. Warren Ellis's impassioned violin is the driving force, hurtling towards melodic crescendos as Mick Turner's versatile guitar weaves an intricate latticework.
As "Love Changes Everything" unwinds, a topography of emotions begins to emerge, with moments of vulnerability and despair pierced by shafts of defiance and resilience. Ellis's haunting piano in "Love Changes Everything II" is a slow-burning ember of sorrow, tempered by Jim White's soothing brushwork on the drums. Yet, with each subsequent track, a thematic trajectory begins to take shape, moving from fractured states of being to eventual spiritual liberation. The full weight of their emotions coalesces in the final two tracks, where the trio's improvisational muscles are given full rein, rising to thrilling sonic pinnacles as music becomes the language of redemption.
Throughout this album, a hidden watercourse connects the ideas of Dirty Three to the high-water mark of free jazz - John Coltrane's visionary "A Love Supreme." In very different terms, both works embody an intuition about love that is pure and comprehensive, addressing head-on the existential ferocity and resilience of their art form. Then and now, even when they appear most ephemeral, the highest musical language reaches the inner rhythms of the universe - even, perhaps, ourselves. - Cedar
