Review: The Avalanches have your road trip sorted with Wildflower
The group displays no rust when it comes to returning from a 16 year silence.
They say music can take you back to a memory in an instant or can evoke an image immediately if made right. Wildflower, the sophomore album from Australian sample plunderers, The Avalanches, could be counted as proof that those sentiments are, indeed, real.
I’ve been waiting for this for a long time and even wrote a little bit about their incredible debut here, so you can imagine my surprise and excitement to hear that the full album was available for streaming on this very morning which, up in Queensland, at least, was warmer than usual.
Where Since I Left You drew a picture of your late dusk escapades with champagne spilling, laughs building into a high energy close, Wildflower delivers the totality of a coast-to-coast journey in your car with the windows down and the sun warming your face and your soul.
Because I’m Me opens the album up in a spectacular fashion with strings and brass for days (NB: the majority of samples on this record elude me) and the sort of attitude that the title evokes. It’s the sort of track that perfectly suits you firing up the car and leaving the driveway for your weekend away.
Frankie Sinatra, the first track released on the album earlier this year, is one of the weaker tracks on the album. It’s an oddity that has similarities to Frontier Psychiatrist, but lacks the shine from the well known track, although, the vocal additions of MF Doom and Danny Brown help carry it. Its sampling of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s A Few Favourite Things towards the end, however, is absolutely wonderful and reinforces and kicks off the playful nature of the record.
Immediately following, Frankie Sinatra, the track Subways unleashes the group’s house music tendencies with a laid back sun-drenched 4/4 number, filled with re-sampled lasers (that sound ripped straight from their 4/4 bits on Since I Left You) and filtered effects all while you can hear the wonky, funky basses bending left and right.
If I Was a Folkstar feels well placed on the washed out Instagram photos you see of seaside drives up and down the coasts of Australia, with a stripped back kick drum driving the percussion while flutes zip in and 8-bit sounds zip out. You can almost smell the salt of the ocean and the gnarly-dude GoPro footage of a surfer coming out of a wave.
And Colours compliments the wash and wonder of Folkstar immediately after it finishes, with its slower tempo and reversed samples flicking back and forth, it adds to the sparkle with strings that sprinkle up and down, acting as a perfect accompaniment to the track that precedes it.
The Noisy Eater is the true highlight of the album with beat box beats from Biz Markie spitting his raps, his food, all while crunching, munching over some flubby bass. The track takes a similar turn to Frankie Sinatra which has the guest vocals drop in and deliver something playful before it invites some big room reverbed strings to carry the track out. It’s the track that has The Avalanches at their weird best.
There’s also sense of romanticism planted throughout the record too. Specifically, Livin’ Underwater (Is Somethin’ Wild) which has watery, filtered guitar plucks over the softest drums. backed by a chorus of crickets and nocturnal insects while we all sit by the crackling fire. It feels almost as though the trip has stopped for a rest and a drink at night and people are beginning to rest their heads on each other’s shoulders.
The collaborations from the group are all very strong, with a range of local and international vocalists dropping in on the car ride; Danny Brown, Biz Markie, Toro y Moi, and a few others all contribute greatly to the wider picture.
And all of that acts as a nice compliment to Since I Left You and, oddly, rather than it be something that sounds completely different, it feels like an extension of their debut. The journey sounds far fuller on this than it did on Since I Left You, and that seems to be the point the group is making. Especially after they mentioned they wanted it to feel like a road trip record which is something they’ve succeeded in doing.
It’s a colourful sounding record that still has the fun, summery sensibilities that Since I Left You oozed, and that feels like an important, if not safe avenue for the band to pursue. While it lacks a bit of the polish and focus that their debut had, Wildflower still pushes us on a much larger journey and that’s not something that is to the detriment of the record, in fact, I’d say that it only solidifies the case that the group has now produced two terrific records.
