And We All Went To Heaven In A Little Row Boat...

Album: Ocean Songs
Artist: The Dirty Three
Genre: Instrumental Rock
Year: 1998
Label: Touch and Go

There’s something truly wondrous about the ocean. It’s vast, unknowable and beautiful beyond reason. The feeling you get when witnessing unknowable beauty is the same as that which The Dirty Three’s Ocean Songs evokes. The Dirty Three is composed of Warren Ellis (Violin, also of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,) Jim White (Drums) and Mick Turner (Electric Guitar) and together they create some “Authentic Celestial Music.” Picture this: You’re drifting out to sea in a little wooden row boat. The water is calm, the air is warm, and a cool breeze blows. Overhead you can see the starlight, the sky is completely clear. Moonlight shines all around you, illuminating the dark waters. As you gently drift, you hear angels fluttering above you. The angels are singing. You feel totally at peace with yourself and the world around you. And that’s just the first track. This album is worth acquiring for “Sirena” alone, but that is not the only reason.

I’ve heard that the earlier music by The Dirty Three was more raucous, more chaotic, but this album is nothing of the sort. Completely instrumental, this music has no need for words to tell stories. The melodies are nothing if not celestial, giving one the feeling of being rocked gently to sleep by the ocean current. Not that you would want to sleep through this, I’m just saying it’s calming music. It’s like taking a shower and letting the dirt and grim wash away, leaving you feeling clean and refreshed. Although there is no real leader to The Dirty Three, Warren Ellis’s violin is definitely the star attraction here. It’s elegant and captivating, steering the course of the album. Mick Turner and Jim White provide the groundwork for the album, allowing room for Ellis to work his magic.

White’s masterful brush drumming is especially gifted, providing the glue that holds the band together. He and Turner are not just background musicians and have more then their fair share of limelight, but to me, Ellis is the man. His playing is considerably different here then it is with The Bad Seeds. There he is furious and frenzied, but here, he is cool and calm, completely serene by contrast. It is a testament to his abilities that he can so effortlessly shift between the worlds of serenity and rambunctiousness, without carrying over any evidence of the other.

This album doesn’t really have that many flaws. The theme may get old for you after awhile, but if you bought an album of “Ocean Songs” and then want to hear something about the Gobi Desert that’s your own problem then isn’t it? This album is a masterful work of art and you should acquire it at once. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m still lost at sea and have a little while left before I find my way home.