In what can only be described as the most highly anticipated album of our generation, The Avalanches have finally broken the silence on their decade-long absence since releasing their critically and commercially successful debut, 2000′s Since I Left You. At least their record label Modular has.
As if you needed any proof of the group’s cultural currency, Since I Left You not only polled in year-end lists from tastemakers such as Pitchfork and Slant Magazine, but remains a beloved record to Australian audiences; charting in the top ten of both the industry ranked publication, The 100 Best Australian Albums and Triple J’s Hottest 100 Australian Albums Of All Time.
Now Guardian reporter Nosheen Iqbal has dropped a bombshell reports Gigwise. Iqbal sent out a flurry of tweets yesterday, including “Modular news scoop: New Avalanches album out in February 2014. 30 songs done and mixed. Heard some ystday + they sound exactly the same.. But in a really GOOD way”.
The tweets were promptly removed, no doubt at the request of Modular, but that cat has now been well and truly pulled out of the bag. In another tweet which has since been removed, Iqbal revealed that the group plan on releasing a brand new single off the new album sometime in September.
There was more solid proof of a new album in the pipeline last August, when the group unceremoniously dropped a link to a tune called ‘A Cowboy Overflow Of The Heart’. The piece featured some abstract spoken word poetry over a distinctive Avalanches-styled soundscape of cheering children, light banjo, and twinkling xylophone, all under the warm crackle of hazy vinyl.
We also heard new material earlier this year after the mash up masters contributed a new track to the score of the King Kong musical, alongside French electronic duo Justice, Robert del Naja of Massive Attack, Elbow’s barstool poet frontman Guy Garvey and Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan.
Despite inside sources suggesting that mixing sessions in Melbourne had begun on new material, once again all information simply led to enigmatic misleads to what has become the most anticipated sophomore release in Australian music history.
In fact, the band have been teasing their sophomore album as early back at 2007, posting on their website that they had begun work on a new ‘hip-hop inspired album’.
“It’s a really thrilling time for us right now as this record comes together, its so fuckin party you will die, much more hip hop than you might expect, and while there is still no accurate estimated time of arrival, were sure you’re gonna love it when it arrives,” read the statement.
“Much of last year was spent cutting up the spoken word/instructional records we need to tell the album’s musical story, and we have some 40 odd songs we’re narrowing down and finishing. So it’s real, it exists, and you know we wouldn’t be serving anything up unless it was gonna give you that same special feeling that since has. funnily enough its ended up sounding like the next logical step to since, we just had to go around in a big circle to get back to where we belong.”
Modular, at least for the time being, have remained tight lipped about any plans.
