The Avalanches
Appropriately titled We Will Always Love You, The Avalanches’ third album makes true what we already knew: this Australian electronic music group loves us, the listener. With every sample, every groove, every little detail, the exhaustive effort and painstaking process of putting this together is so we can immerse ourselves and the joy and wonder of everything it offers. While their 2016 project, Wildflower, basked in the bright colours of Americana, We Will Always Love You is immediately blue—a December album for the cold feeling of a warm presence no longer by your side. The direction is different. The tone is cooler. The result may leave die-hards and casuals alike dissatisfied. But the truest testament to the artistic merit of this album is that it will take months to unpack all of the layers and nuances that make this album as good as the rest. Appreciation deepens over distance. There might be bittersweet reflections of a past lover and all of the memories, but the feeling deep down is always love.
-Michael Charlebois
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
