Mick Turner

Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner checks in with both his second solo recording, and six excellent new (out of eight total) Dirty Three songs contributed to the soundtrack of Australian film Praise, and oddly, it’s the band tracks, not the solo effort, that take new directions. Instead of Warren Ellis’s wailing violin, which one usually associates with the band, the new tracks on Praise feature piano most prominently. The band certainly hasn’t abandoned its musical direction, but this fleshed out sound works beautifully — as much of their music would — as evocative, wordless soundscapes that presumably merge beautifully with the film’s action. The Dirty Three tracks make up less than half of the soundtrack, and the remainder raises even more curiosity about what the film might be, combining some new work by the likes of Australia’s Crow with a number of old cowboy songs like “Smoke Smoke Smoke (That Cigarette!)” by Tex Williams and His Western Caravan and “King of the Cowboys” by Screamin’ Johnny Ellis, Warren’s father. If the soundtrack is any indication, the film should be great.