After a few weeks of guessing games and cryptic messages, Melbourne music icons The Avalanches have returned with their latest single, “We Will Always Love You”.
For much of the last fortnight, fans of The Avalanches have been wondering if there was movement at the station, with the group hinting towards the impending release of new material.
Things first kicked off on February 8 when the band’s Instagram account was purged, mirroring a tactic employed by Radiohead prior to the release of their latest album. Days later, billboards began to appear bearing the phrases “After We Die, What Then?” and “We Will Always Love You”, Morse code which translates to the latter phrase, and the web URL, “wwaly.earth“.
While visits to the website didn’t bear much fruit, an extra hint was given just a few days ago when a voice message on the site was updated to transmit Morse code that translated to “Feb Twenty”. Now, as February 20 came upon us, the group returned to their social media accounts to announce the release of a new single on that date.
Titled “We Will Always Love You”, the single was premiered on triple j this evening, and features guest vocals from Blood Orange, the musical moniker of English musician Dev Hynes.
A spacey, downtempo number, “We Will Always Love You” is a relatively subdued composition from the group, but features all of the hallmarks of a classic Avalanches track.
Taking to social media, the band shared a cryptic message relating to the track’s composition, while promising the release of further music in the near future.
“Sometimes we receive a message. Telling us our music has been there; through dark times, loneliness, loss,” they explained. There are no words to express how moving or profound this connection with you is.
“Because the music was born out of such moments itself, and so it is felt, by those with open hearts, on the same wavelength it was first created. Morse Code beamed and received by hearts and hearts alike.
“Our new record is about such journeys, from darkness to light. About life after (all kinds of) death. About the transcendent nature of music itself.
“Every voice ever played on the radio over the last 100 years now exists in the stars; the transmissions of these singers are forever floating around out there, lost in the cosmos, endlessly travelling.”
Undoubtedly, the release of new music by The Avalanches is a welcome surprise to fans of the band, who had likely assumed a much longer waiting period would take place.
As it stands, it’s currently been three-and-a-half years since the release of Wildflower, the band’s first album in 16 years. Though fans were cautious to expect a follow-up so soon, the group revealed in 2017 they were already hunting for samples for their new record, before stating in 2018 their “third album is taking shape and we can’t wait to share it with you all. It’s already something very special.”
The biggest update came in November of last year though, when the group noted they had just undertaken their “final session of album 3 with the Australian Boys Choir.” Unfortunately, no updates followed from the outfit as to what was coming next, though their remix of The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Out of Control’ did appear only days later.
At this stage, it’s unknown when the group’s new record will drop or when we’ll receive new music, though it’s clear that “We Will Always Love You” will be kept on repeat until we learn more.
