The Avalanches have made good on their promise to release new music this week, with two new singles arriving this evening.
First teased last week, The Avalanches have been sharing a handful of songs throughout 2020, with “We Will Always Love You” arriving in February, before “Running Red Lights” followed in March.
Now, following the news that they had submitted their third record for the mastering process, the duo have released two new singles by way of “Reflecting Light” and “Wherever You Go”.
The former sees the group utilising samples from Vashti Bunyan 1970 track “Glow Worms”, alongside vocals from Sananda Maitreya, and – as per a statement from the group (which can be seen below) – “the church bells across the street from my house, recorded on an iPhone”.
“The hiss from a much loved vinyl record. The static on our television sets; radiation left over from the Big Bang,” the group’s statement continues.
“What are these sounds that haunt our lives.. floating in the static and the noise all around us, just beyond our grasp? Are they radio waves, hallucinations? Voices from the past?
“Beginning with the physical, we become the ephemeral. We are changed. Emeshed in the universal fabric, we are reflecting light.”
The second of these singles, “Wherever You Go”, appears to continue the somewhat spacey theme that the group have utilised in the promotional materials for their new era of activity.
Featuring production from Jamie xx, piano from Mick Jones, and vocals from Neneh Cherry and CLYPSO, the track also samples extraterrestrial greetings taken from the Voyager Golden Record of 1977. Beginning slowly, the track soon erupts into an exuberant frenzy which captures the energy seen in the pair’s acclaimed live performances.
“Why do we send music to the stars? Is it because we want our voices to live forever?” The Avalanches muse in a statement accompanying the track. “How else should we become pure spirits, singing forever in the dark?”
Though The Avalanches revealed earlier this month that their new album has entered the mastering process, details are yet to be revealed as to when fans can expect to hear the follow-up to 2016’s Wildflower.
View the statements from the group that accompany both of their new singles below.
