Darker With The Day

This morning's episode features an interview with Mick Turner, best known as the guitarist for Dirty Three, Mick was also a member of The Moodists, Sick Things, Fungus Brains and Venom P. Stinger. Mick has performed with many more artists including Cat Power, Will Oldham, Courtney Barnett and many others. He also currently releases music under his own name and as Mess Esque, with Brisbane's Helen Franzmann. Outside of music, Mick is a painter whose art has featured on the cover of almost all Dirty Three's albums. Dirty Three released their latest album, Love Changes Everything on LP, CD and Cassette on June 14th; it will be available digitally from June 28th. Dirty Three have been touring Australia through June and they play The Tivoli on Friday June 28th.

Plus the following review, featured in between Parts I & II of the Dirty Three song, Love Changes Everything.

Dirty Three - Love Changes Everything (Remote Control/Drag City/Bella Union)

Released June 14th, 2024 (AU - CD, LP & Tape) & June 28th, 2024 (Streaming)

"Recorded in five days. Mixed in a year. Nothing has changed. Older and meaner, sadder, and totally dangerous,” is how violinist Warren Ellis describes Love Changes Everything, Dirty Three’s first album in twelve years. To say this album is eagerly anticipated is a massive understatement and many fans of the eccentric instrumental trio had abandoned all hope that the group —which includes guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White— would ever record again. 

Nevertheless, Dirty Three’s members have been far from idle. Ellis is Nick Cave’s closest collaborator, and The Bad Seeds are due to release their latest album, Wild God, in August. Turner is a painter and visual artist who also plays in Mess Esque (with Brisbane’s own Helen Franzmann) and, this year alone, White’s credits include his first solo record, a second collaboration with Marisa Anderson and the debut album from experimental super group Beings. Still, as compelling as their individual projects may be, there is a certain itch that only the Dirty Three can scratch; due in no small part to the musical alchemy that occurs when all three members clear their schedules and convene to knock out a new record. 

Love Changes Everything is a single piece of music that the group split into six parts; a logistical decision required for streaming purposes. “If all you could buy was vinyl”, Turner stated, “the flipping of the record would be the only gap.” Part I opens with a squall of noise and distortion, recalling the cacophony of Horse Stories. This raucousness appears to be a false start, as the album soon transitions into the delicate, piano-inflected sound of Part II. Restraint, it seems, is the order of the day, for this elegance continues until the end of the record. Moments of noise and discordance are present, but fleeting —most notably in Part V— with the group favouring a lighter touch in lieu of a full-on assault.  

Containing everything one expects from a Dirty Three record, Love Changes Everything feels like a distillation of all their previous works. This combination makes for a record that feels equally fresh and familiar, a singular entry in an already idiosyncratic back catalogue. Twelve years is a long time between records, but good things come to those who wait and Love Changes Everything is the Dirty Three at their rambunctious, emotionally charged best. When asked if it would be a further twelve years before the next Dirty Three record, Turner laughed and replied, “I hope not,” before indicating that the album’s sessions yielded plenty of useable material, adding, “Maybe it’s already been recorded.” I, for one, am keeping my fingers crossed.

Nick Stephan