7.0
The first single from the Avalanches forthcoming album dropped at midnight on Wednesday. Along with updated imagery, the plunderphonics duo has revamped their sound. An 808 kick provides the grounding for this spacey track, as a pitched up sample of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ “I’ll Take You Any Way That You Come” duets with Dev Hynes.
Hynes is allowed to exercise his whole range on this song, from his falsetto crooning to his monotone mantras, he is at times the star of the show and at other times it’s as if he is just another sample among The Avalanches’ plundered melodies.
“We Will Always Love You” is an exciting peek of what’s to follow on this album, which the Avalanches have hinted might feature JPEG Mafia, Dhani Harrison, and Cornelius, as speculated by Consequence of Sound. This song seems to somewhat abandon the group’s faithful marriage to nostalgia as they include some more modern elements alongside their classic samples.
In today’s hip hop, it’s not trendy to use samples that can be identified. Long gone are the days of Janet Jackson and Anita Baker samples. Now it’s all about using a sample of an acoustic guitar arpeggio purchased on Splice. The Avalanches, however are in love with the art of sampling, as they stated in a tweet back in 2018: “after all it is not really 'our' music - we are interpreters and receivers.” Here, they’ve beautifully received Dev Hynes onto their track and transmitted it to the world with a joyous message, reinterpreting longing from Smokey Robinson and The Roches to create a love letter to all who listen.
Check the samples here on whosampled to see how much they’ve changed the originals.
