All Tomorrow's Parties

It's been almost five years since Warren Ellis, Jim White and Mick Turner have recorded a studio album as the Dirty Three but it looks like they've been keeping busy. Drummer Jim White, who now lives is New York, has been anchoring Cat Power's Dirty Delta Band while sitting in on various gigs around town while violinist Warren Ellis, a member of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds, has spent the past few years scoring several films with Cave including this fall's upcoming screen version of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road".

"Ocean Songs" is probably my favorite album by the Dirty Three and All Tomorrow's Parties organizer Barry Hogan most likely feels the same way as the 2009 New York installation of the festival marked the third time that the band has played the album in its entirety as part of ATP's Don't Look Back segment. The album is decidedly less raucous then some of the band's earlier work and the slow, almost dirge like compositions are loosely structured allowing everyone lots of opportunity to stretch out and improvise in a live setting.

The album reaches its climax with the epic 16 minute track "Deep Waters" which finds the band exploring a wide dynamic range from quiet finger picking to a rather loud, crashing tumult. Like many of the tunes on the album "Deep Waters" is a bit of a mood piece and the song has a staggering, almost drunken quality that always threatens to fall apart before returning to beautiful, repetitive violin pattern played by Ellis. Joining the band to play the piano parts originally played on the studio album by David Grubbs was Nick Cave, resplendent in a sharp black suit.

The tune was one of the grander moments I witnessed in the Starlight Ballroom over the course of the weekend and definitely one the festival's stand out performances.