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Adventurous 2005 "pop" album! Guest vocals (for the first time) by Cat Power and Sally Timms (The Mekons).
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6 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Less fury, more focused and more varied
15 Feb 2006
Format:Audio CD
Considering I've at the very least enjoyed every single album that Dirty Three have released, it was sort of odd that I completely glossed over their latest release Cinder that came out later last year. It's true that their last album (She Has No Strings Apollo) didn't strike me quite as much as their previous work, but this is a group that somehow managed to always wrench original compositions out of thin air, as if their long-running trio was more a single organism. Their awesome Horse Stories and Ocean Songs releases are exercises in measured fury and slow sadness respectively, and still require frequent listening.
I'm really glad that I finally decided to give in and get Cinder, though, because the group does just about everything they need on the release to win me back as a listener. First off, the group has shortened their compositions, which had sprawled to somewhat unfocused lengths on their last discs, and in addition to more efficiency in their songwriting, they've again taken some chances with unique instrumentation and even teamed up with Cat Power for a track. The result is their finest album at least since Whatever You Love You Are and possibly earlier.
Cinder isn't an album that wallops you over the head at any points, but wins you over with steady and solid songs. The disc opens with "Ever Since" and it sounds like a standard from the group, building with slow swells of violin and some urgent percussion, while "She Passed Through" is about as pop as the group may ever get, packing a couple of quick, gorgeous turns into a three and a half minute song that features some organ and dirty guitar. The same goes for "Sad Sexy," which finds the group taking a much more straightforward direction with coiling violin melodies and chugging guitar and drums.
Elsewhere, the group flat-out rocks out ("Doris," which also features some nicely-used bagpipe), drops some serious ambient mood (the gorgeous "Feral," which also features piano and wordless vocals from Sally Timms), and creates crushing melancholia (the falling-apart "Last Dance"). Then, there's the Cat Power collaboration of "Great Waves," which seems to highlight each artist for the better. The track is an urgent and quietly explosive piece that I enjoy more than any recent solo work I've heard from Marshall, and her voice seems like a natural fit for the instrumentation of the Dirty Three (who she's worked with before). Hearing the track, it seems almost logical that the group should work with some more vocalists in the future, but who knows what that will bring. As it stands, Cinder is a great release from a group I should have known to not write off.
(from almost cool music reviews)
I'm really glad that I finally decided to give in and get Cinder, though, because the group does just about everything they need on the release to win me back as a listener. First off, the group has shortened their compositions, which had sprawled to somewhat unfocused lengths on their last discs, and in addition to more efficiency in their songwriting, they've again taken some chances with unique instrumentation and even teamed up with Cat Power for a track. The result is their finest album at least since Whatever You Love You Are and possibly earlier.
Cinder isn't an album that wallops you over the head at any points, but wins you over with steady and solid songs. The disc opens with "Ever Since" and it sounds like a standard from the group, building with slow swells of violin and some urgent percussion, while "She Passed Through" is about as pop as the group may ever get, packing a couple of quick, gorgeous turns into a three and a half minute song that features some organ and dirty guitar. The same goes for "Sad Sexy," which finds the group taking a much more straightforward direction with coiling violin melodies and chugging guitar and drums.
Elsewhere, the group flat-out rocks out ("Doris," which also features some nicely-used bagpipe), drops some serious ambient mood (the gorgeous "Feral," which also features piano and wordless vocals from Sally Timms), and creates crushing melancholia (the falling-apart "Last Dance"). Then, there's the Cat Power collaboration of "Great Waves," which seems to highlight each artist for the better. The track is an urgent and quietly explosive piece that I enjoy more than any recent solo work I've heard from Marshall, and her voice seems like a natural fit for the instrumentation of the Dirty Three (who she's worked with before). Hearing the track, it seems almost logical that the group should work with some more vocalists in the future, but who knows what that will bring. As it stands, Cinder is a great release from a group I should have known to not write off.
(from almost cool music reviews)
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Nice change of pace, but somewhat tame ...
2 Nov 2005
Format:Audio CD
Aussie post-rock instrumental trio the Dirty Three reappear with "Cinder," their seventh full length studio album. While the Dirty Three's working method is by its very nature limited in scope, here they break with convention and, for the first time, record an album of short songs with added instrumentation and most surprisingly, guest vocalists.
The Dirty Three are known for their epic tunes, alternating between apocalyptic noise jams and melancholy dirges. "Cinder" features twice as many songs as usual, many at drastically reduced running times. This allows for a greater variety of melody, but in the process of shortening the tunes, they lose some of their famous intensity. The added variety of instrumentation is a nice change of pace from the trios usual violin, guitar and drums set up, with piano, organ, bass, bazouki and mandolin all making appearances. Sally Timms and Cat Power show up to record a song each and their contributions are strong, but the album feels underwhelming. "Cinder" serves as a great introduction for the novice listener. But for fans of their cathartic epics, it sounds more like a teaser.
The Dirty Three are known for their epic tunes, alternating between apocalyptic noise jams and melancholy dirges. "Cinder" features twice as many songs as usual, many at drastically reduced running times. This allows for a greater variety of melody, but in the process of shortening the tunes, they lose some of their famous intensity. The added variety of instrumentation is a nice change of pace from the trios usual violin, guitar and drums set up, with piano, organ, bass, bazouki and mandolin all making appearances. Sally Timms and Cat Power show up to record a song each and their contributions are strong, but the album feels underwhelming. "Cinder" serves as a great introduction for the novice listener. But for fans of their cathartic epics, it sounds more like a teaser.
return to form
13 Mar 2009
Format:Audio CD
If you were disappointed with She Has No Strings Apollo, as I was, rest assured the band's not past it. On Cinder they've strayed from the formula of a few long instrumental tracks, but without losing their essence, i.e. emotional, often melancholy songs built around the violin, electric guitar and drums. This album features some more diverse instrumentation (bazouki, bagpipes(!), etc.), vocals on a couple tracks, and none of the songs are more than 4 or so minutes long. So while it does feel different from their previous LP's, it stands up with the best of their work, and, to my relief, bodes well for the future of this genius band.
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