Daily Download: "Doris," Dirty Three

Australia's Dirty Three have been rocking the same sound for many years now -- droney, ragged drum and guitar rock topped with sweepingly, hyperbolically romantic and melodic violin lines -- through albums that waxed and waned in scope and fervor, but remained essentially the same. On their latest, "Cinder," they seem to have tired of the sound, or at least decided that a change was for the best, adding some new instruments, exploring shorter, more textured mood pieces, and generally reducing the primacy and melodrama of the violin. The changes are only half-successful -- much of the album feels unfocused, meandering and low impact, and I find myself missing the shamelessly emotive and over-the-top sound the band had so perfected. Sometimes, though, the sound crystallizes into something memorable, as on "Doris," a blast of wall-of-sound rock bolstered by a suitably fearsome bagpipe.