At this point the Dirty Three are perhaps more interesting when pulled apart. The music violinist Warren Ellis, guitarist Mick Turner, and drummer Jim White make together is not only immediately recognizable as a sound, it's also a persistent exploration of very specific emotional terrain. So while "Dirty Three" is clear shorthand for tightly circumscribed set of musical values, the members' other projects retain a certain flexibility.

Turner and White periodically work together as Tren Brothers, with Turner adding flourishes of melodica to fill in chords while his guitar lines meander. That last word is important. Tren Brother pieces, though airy and spacious and generally short, are not economical. The spark driving this music is intuition and process is paramount. Mick Turner, like a bat searching for food by sending out a variably pitched scale ultrasonic tones, gradually teases out melody by unwinding jittery arpeggios to see which ones stick. White is his ultimate foil, with his astonishingly free and original approach to drums wherein actual timekeeping is far down the list of priorities.