The Avalanches — We Will Always Love You

ElectronicPsychedelic
Written By Akhil Srivatsan
 
Australian duo the Avalanches’ We Will Always Love You tells a story of life after death and outer space through the medium of sample-heavy psychedelic electronica.
 

What is it with Australia and this millennium’s psychedelic music? In the new millennium, the land down under has given us King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Tame Impala, the Murlocs, and now the Avalanches’ latest album of mid-tempo electronic psychedelia, We Will Always You. To those aware of the Avalanches’ storied history, the next few sentences may seem like a regurgitation, but it’s important to contextualise any Avalanches release with just how seminal their debut release, Since I Left You is. When it was released in 2000, the album was unlike anything anyone had ever heard before (except maybe DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing.....?) So sample-heavy that different versions had to be released in different geographies due to differing licensing requirements, the album was funky dance-pop seemingly built entirely out of a crate-digger’s dream.

Australian duo the Avalanches’ debut album, Since I Left You ushered in new developments in sampling, plunderphonics, and psychedelic electronic music.

For the next sixteen years, while the Avalanches did release some songs, but there were no LPs, and the myth of two perfectionist Melbourne DJs working on the followup to their debut masterpiece was born. When it landed in 2016, Wildflower was among the most hyped records of the year. And it was among the best. More influenced by hip-hop than their previous outing, the psychedelia-tinged album featured Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, MF DOOM, Danny Brown and others. We Will Always Love You is their highly-anticipated followup to that highly-anticipated record.

Australian duo the Avalanches’ Wildflower was the much-anticipated hip-hop-driven followup to their groundbreaking 2000 debut album, Since I Left You.

Featuring Vashti Bunyan, the Clash’s Mick Jones, the Smiths’ (and Modest Mouse’s) Johnny Marr, and others, We Will Always Love You, turns the dial down on hip-hop and turns the dial up on disco, funk, and dance-pop. Imagine midnight at a place with disco balls and tiled floors slippery with spilled cocktails and sweat. Remember those places? Fire hazards all of them, poorly lit, DJs in the corner, bars with card machines that may or may not work, but a soundsystem that would be the envy of better-managed places. Almost like the owners opened the place just to show off this new soundsystem they bought.

Fundamentally, this, like most Avalanches albums is a sunshine-happy record, albeit one that’s maybe ten-odd minutes too long. The songs meld seamlessly into each other, and if I were asked to cull ten minutes of music from the record, despite my previous observation, I don’t think I’d be able to. The beauty of the record is that it’d be just as in place at a club setting as it would be when experienced alone in bed. It belongs just as much on a balcony at 3 pm as it does under the sheets at 3 am. It’s light and breezy, while also attempting to deal with ‘deep’ ideas about life after death and humanity’s place in an infinite universe. It isn’t exactly frivolous stuff. I, of course, recommend it.

Standout tracks:

  • Interstellar Love

  • Reflecting Light

  • We Go On

  • Wherever You Go

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