It took Melbourne’s Avalanches 16 years to follow up the dazzling cut-and-paste alchemy of their debut, Since I Left You. When it did finally arrive, 2016’s Wildflower was more considered, more song-based and featured a slew of big-name collaborators. We Will Always Love You – a mere four years in gestation – feels like a logical progression: it’s another step away from the dancefloor and into the sort of multilayered, blissed-out psychedelia associated with Tame Impala and MGMT, and there is now a staggering array of guest vocalists and musicians, from the one-time Terence Trent D’Arby to Jamie xx; Perry Farrell to Blood Orange.
That so many disparate talents have been corralled into such a cohesive whole is testament to Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi’s vision, with samples meticulously stitched together from a mass of voices and an underlying concept of remembering those singers no longer with us. Indeed, perhaps the most poignant moment comes on Dial D for Devotion, as atop atypically minimal piano/static backing Karen O intones an old lyric written by the late David Berman, who guested on Wildflower. Listen out, too, for Gold Sky, where Kurt Vile’s drawling sprechgesang is contrasted with a euphoric gospel backing, and Wayne Coyne adds a fragile coda. There’s much to discover here, making it an immersive and rewarding album to go back to again and again.
