After months of new singles, and a promise of a new record on the horizon, Australian music royalty The Avalanches have shared the artwork for their forthcoming album, Will Always Love You.
The news was broken on the group’s Instagram account this morning, accompanied by the artwork of the new record, which was designed by Jonathan Zawada, the ARI Award-winning designer of Flume’s 2016 effort, Skin.
The cover itself features an image of Ann Druyan, Creative Director of the Voyager Golden Record Project, whose work is not only featured on “Wherever You Go”, but whose “cosmic love story” helped to inspire the music on the album.
“In keeping with the album’s theme of everlasting love as an undying vibration, Ann’s image was run through a spectograph, turned into sound, and back again,” the group explain. “The image remains hidden, deep within in the grooves of the music, for you to discover if you wish.”
The method behind the cover evokes memories of the technique utilised by artists such as Aphex Twin and Nine Inch Nails, with spectographs using sound to mask an image that serves as something of an easter egg within their recorded output.
Described as “an exploration of the vibrational relationship between light, sound and spirit,” The Avalanches are set to make We Will Always Love You available for pre-order from next week, though no concrete release date has been unveiled as yet.
The announcement of a new album comes following the release of numerous singles from the group over the last few months, including the title track, “Running Red Lights”, “Wherever You Go”, and “Reflecting Light”, with the latter also released on limited edition x-ray vinyl.
We Will Always Love You will serve as the first new record from The Avalanches since 2016’s Wildflower, which came after a 16-year wait following their critically acclaimed debut, Since I Left You.
