What's Really Happening: A Brief Review Of The New Album From Jim White (The Dirty Three, The Hard Quartet)

In the last two years, Jim White, drummer for the The Dirty Three and Nick Cave, has released a fantastic record with Ed Kuepper of The Saints, been a part of the fab Hard Quartet, and served up his first solo album. And now, after that flurry of activity, he's back with a new solo offering, Inner Day on Drag City.

Inner Day is a record of textures. The opening is a wisp of a track, while "What's Really Happening" has a gently urgent rhythmic backing that keeps it above water. The longer "Longwood" mixes keyboards with the faintest of percussive accents. The mix of sharp synth hooks and more ominous ones keeps this in a realm closer to the music of John Carpenter than Nick Cave, but White navigates the terrain with subtle dexterity. "Cloudy", a real highlight here, puts me in mind of Stewart Copeland's soundtrack work, with White's stick-work here having the same kind of nimble adventurous, even if the track is more subdued than some of White's work with Dirty Three or Nick Cave.

Inner Day was recorded and produced by Guy Picciotto (Rites of Spring, Fugazi), and the album is impressively rich. Picciotto brings the same attitude to this as he brought to 2004's Misery is a Butterfly, Blonde Redhead's masterpiece of a release. While this Jim White release isn't dreamy like that, there's still a premium here on mood, vibe, and texture. Simple in spots, and overstuffed with audio elements in others, Inner Day is an album well worth a careful listen. Highly recommended.

Inner Day by Jim White is out today via Drag City.