An avalanche of new songs

 

“Since I left you” is one of those generational earworms, like Moloko’s “Sing it back” — only more crafty (at the very least in Europe). Released way back in the year 2000, it did far more than stand the test of time, becoming iconic of a style and era in musical history, that of plunderphonics, or the art of subtly mixing and matching samples together. Arguably, another single from that same album, “Frontier psychiatrist”, is an even more polished piece of fine electronica, but no matter: the point is The Avalanches hit it big with their first album — then spent a lot of time working on its follow up…

By all accounts, the Australian band found it hard to replicate the symbiotic success of their earlier work — Since I left you reportedly involved meshing together upwards of 900 samples. They did finally come up with a sequel of sorts, 2016’s Wildflower, featuring another instant classic in the form of “Because I’m me”. They then went dark again, and some may have dreaded that the world would have to wait another 15 years for the elusive bunch to come back with new material. The fact that band co-founder Robbie Chater left the Wildflower promotional tour in 2017 to go the rehab didn’t help: with bandmate Tony Di Blasi now fronting the band alone, what kind of miracle would be need for us to hear more/new Avalanches?

That miracle, it turns out, was Covid-19. Not that the album was produced during this year — at least part of it was already finished — but let us try to find one upside in these dreadful times: the band’s third album, We will always love you, was first introduced this February and ultimately released a couple of weeks ago, right on time for this uniquely weird Christmas of ours. And, once again, it is well worth the (arguably reasonable) wait: for one, it is extremely rich, with a 20+ track listing, a host of guest artists and a decent amount of artfully placed samples. The title track, featuring Blood Orange, introduces a somewhat new Avalanches sound: less sampling, more original beats and production, including notably fleshier vocals. Fine with us.

The rest of the album beautifully intertwines sophisticated electronic beats, sung or rapped lyrics, wonderfully catchy samples to convey a core message: the now-middle aged Chater and Di Blasi opted for a more contemplative, dare we say spiritual, approach to their art. “Interstellar love”, featuring Leon Bridges and based on a sample from the Alan Parsons Project’s “Eye in the sky”, is a great example of this new and improved oneiric sound that the band developed of late. Not to mention tracks like “We go on”, a subtly nostalgic nod to the late great Karen Carpenter — featuring Clash co-founder Mick Jones. Or “Running red lights”, with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo on vocals, as an homage to the late David Berman. The list could go on: there are 25 tracks on the album, 21 of which last longer than a minute…

When all is said and done, this new direction the Avalanches have taken, while somewhat less technical in its approach than in earlier times, is also remarkably more emotional. In the best of senses: the artistic and intellectual depth channeled in this album vastly surpasses most of its electronic counterparts. And that leaves us very happy indeed. Happy new and musical year!