As we’ve come to learn, the next album from The Avalanches may arrive in four years or 16—but either way they always seem to be worth the wait. Yesterday the Australian duo returned with their first new music since 2020’s We Will Always Love You LP with a loose single called “Together” which further distances the project from the plunderphonic playground of their debut as they explore bubblegum bass and more house-centric dance music. Additionally, they’re keeping their collaborative streak alive with guest vocals from Nikki Nair, Jessy Lanza, and Prentiss who, together, provide a choral flourish to the track that brings Justice’s timeless “D.A.N.C.E.” to mind.
No further information has been revealed about a new album, though the band is promoting something called the Takumi digital archives with a cryptic website featuring a questionnaire that seems to be a choose-your-own-adventure-style journey to different pages featuring videos that may or may not include snippets of new Avalanches material paired with seemingly unrelated links to various articles, images, and songs (one result I got was a Coca-Cola jingle included on Suzanne Ciani’s 2016 collection of commercial music, another was an ad spot for Tab Cola on YouTube—I’m sensing a theme here).
Check out the new track below, and see for yourself what The Avalanches might be cooking here.
