Despite violinist Warren Ellis' recent Magic Stick performance attire -- AC/DC T-shirt and jeans -- the Dirty Three have pared down the dervishlike, dynamistic bombast of their mid-'90s days for a slower, funeralesque melancholy. "Whatever You Love, You Are" finds the three Australians more consciously aware of their sonic movements, both vertically (amid Ellis' intense violin violence) and horizontally (around the big sounds emanating from Jim White's drums and Mick Turner's rhythm guitar).
"Some Summers They Drop Like Flys" introduces the album's gloomy mysticism, with Ellis layering numerous violin parts, creating a disorienting swirl. The rest of the record follows the opening piece's cue, each song filing slowly by, while cracking open the band's disconsolate but beautiful arrangements and themes. Remarkable.
