DAILY FIX: Dirty Three, “Rising Below”

Hi everyone, I’m feeling pretty burned out today. So I guess it makes it a pretty perfect day for the new video from melancholy experimental Aussie trio Dirty Three to hit the airwaves (or the youtubes, as the case may be in this modern day and age).

Hi everyone, I’m feeling pretty burned out today. So I guess it makes it a pretty perfect day for the new video from melancholy experimental Aussie trio Dirty Three to hit the airwaves (or the youtubes, as the case may be in this modern day and age). Driven by the violin of Nick Cave’s Grinderman collaborator Warren Ellis, Dirty Three is rounded out by guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White. I reviewed their latest album, Towards The Low Sun, earlier this year, finding it strange but ultimately beautiful. “Rising Below” is one of the highlights from that album, with its melancholy melody and mostly placid rhythm giving it more of a pensive and immediately accessible feel than a lot of other tracks from the album. It does build up to some of the more intense post-Velvet Underground noisiness that the Dirty Three are often capable of, but only briefly, towards the end of the track. The video is a strange and rather downbeat film of people in animal costumes running around doing weird things that, for the most part, don’t look like too much fun. A woman in a horse costume seems to be the star, which makes sense from a band who once named an album Horse Stories. If this video is a horse story, it’s kind of a sad one–fitting, for such a sad-sounding song. It’s kind of the soundtrack to my day. If you can relate–or even if you can’t (for your sake, I hope you can’t)–check out this video. And be sure to grab a copy of Towards The Low Sun, which is out now on Drag City.