You're never alone with the Dirty Three

I thought Lowlands would be apt for the first leg of today's journey, Antwerp to Rotterdam in the rain. I love it when the Dirty Three calm it down a bit, this never really rises above a funeral pace. It's all skeletal chords, death rattling drums and the beautifully plaintive violin. It's miles away from their raucous live shows, and the first album of theirs I bought.


My friend Sarah had played me some of their music one evening while sat outside her shack on the Murray River and I was instantly taken. Back at home in the days of napster I randomly downloaded a track - it was Wheels, from this album, and it's fucking amazing, especially when the tension is broken by a heartbreaking chord change at 1.30.

I once read a great Nick Cave essay on "The Lovesong" and he goes on about lovesongs having to be marbled with a somewhat masochistic pain to really move you, well this album's first six songs (I use the word loosely, as they're all instrumental) are the perfect example of that truth.