The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You (Review)
Have I been waiting for this one...
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| Stepping confidently into the new decade with a refurbished sound and a brand new take on a style they defined, proving not only that they have more to give, but that the genres of plunderphonics, psychedelic pop and dance have more to offer. |
11th December 2020
Modular Recordings
My Rating:
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8.8
/10
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It's only taken The Avalanches twenty years to release a whopping total of three albums, their show-stopping debut Since I Left You essentially setting the stage for Gorillaz' whole career, creating the defining new sound for both alternative and dance music and yet being overlooked by both, combined with the sixteen year wait for a followup, this is a group that was either too ahead of the curve to gain any traction, or just too unlikable. I'm partial to the former, their debut standing up as something of an underrated classic in my books, but even with their decent comeback so many years later, there was no guarantee of success when it came to We Will Always Love You, particularly given the diverse range of singles, each one sounding as though they belonged in different albums from different artists. Yes, going into this record I was concerned - the question is, was that concern warranted?
The conversation around this new album has largely revolved around two points of comparison, although if I'm honest I don't find either of them to be particularly representative measures of what this album is so much as what it achieves. First is the obvious, a direct comparison with The Avalanches' previous works. Ignoring the actual quality of any of these records, all three are very structurally similar, with long tracklists topping out at over an hour, many interludes and songs that flow seamlessly between one another. None of this is new for the group, and it is consistent across releases, although works significantly better on this new record and the debut than it did on Wildflower.
However, a far more important comparative point would be the sounds of each record, and the marked difference between the dusty, grounded beats of their original record, rooted in retrospection and nostalgia in an unexpected parallel to the pop music of the current decade and its obsession with the eighties. In the case of The Avalanches though, their sound was far more concerned with the Motown and soul of the 60s, the influential plunderphonics of the 80s and the dusty trip hop of the 90s, a fiercely unique combination that they expanded upon far too late with their undeniably behind-the-curve Wildflower, a record that incorporated more hip hop and disco but without the bold stylings nor the perfectionist production that had once been synonymous with The Avalanches, even despite the lengthy time that record took to make.
Fast forward to 2020 and the album I'm supposed to be reviewing here, We Will Always Love You certainly returns to the presentable quality of the debut, arguably being their most polished batch of songs to date, but the sound palette has been entirely uprooted, electronic textures replacing the organic, utilising many of the same genres and samples but taking a step back from noise and towards minimalism. Now, not to mince words, this is not even close to a minimalistic record, nor could it be described as "spare" or "sparse", but it is far more nocturnal in nature, the sounds and samples in play far more individual, working together to create a psychedelic new interpretation of existing songs but in a far more reconstructionist way than they've ever done before, making for what is at times a more ominous album.
This brings me to the second, possibly more relevant comparison, that being the similarities between this album and the latest Gorillaz record, Strange Timez. Is the fusion of sounds similar? Yes. Is the formulation of songs from a varied pool of genres, sounds and featured artists similar? Yes. But, is the end result at all similar? I'd argue no. You see, for as much as I enjoy Gorillaz' latest album, it has none of the cohesion of We Will Always Love You, none of the indulgence in atmosphere, not even the same scope or themes. Gorillaz have certainly improved upon the formula they've been using for the past decade, but The Avalanches have progressed to the next level of their career, the sum of their parts resulting in a project that is transcendent and bold, whilst Gorillaz' is an improvement on individual parts that feels somewhat redundant in its whole.
When listening to We Will Always Love You, what I discovered was not a group updating, nor retracing steps, it was the sound of a group finding themselves again with the same tricks, but a totally new product, and this time around their inclusion of guest artists and vocalists was on point and, to my surprise, emotional. Whether you're talking about the statements on war and fighting with the simple repetition of "Oh The Sunn!" and "We Go On", or the more personal struggles and commitments on "Gold Sky" and "Running Red Lights", the latter of which is Rivers Cuomo's best performance in years, this album is The Avalanches' most human, and I've got to give it credit for that.
So, this wound up becoming something of an instant favourite, missing out on the 2020 best list but eligible for 2021 (yes I'm teasing my favourite albums of the year in January, deal with it) and I highly recommend you give it some time, whether you want a taste of the strong singles or take a plunge in with the full record. Regardless, I hope you like what you find.
BEST TRACKS
We Will Always Love You; The Divine Chord; Interstellar Love; Oh The Sunn!; We Go On; Wherever You Go; Take Care In Your Dreaming; Gold Sky; Running Red Lights
WORST TRACKS
Born To Lose; Weightless
BREAKDOWN
Ambition: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Catchiness/Enjoyability: 9
Content Ideas: 9
Emotion/Engaging: 8
Execution: 9
Production: 9
Structure: 8
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Arrangements: 10
Vocals/Flows: 9
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Total: 88
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