It’s been 16 years. 16 long and painful years for fans of the geniuses who gave us Since I Left You, which ironically allowed The Avalanches to fall off the face of the Earth for an undisclosed amount of time. No shows, no announcements – nothing. Until now.
Wildflower is an album that gives a spirit to the hopeless, an outlet for the weird and the wonderful to get lost in, over and over. Lead single Frankie Sinatra exemplifies the band’s unpredictability by employing a calypso-laced beat, as wordsmiths Danny Brown and MF Doom lay down whacked-out verses that almost conjure vivid hallucinations of a descent into madness.
The song smoothly transitions into Subways, which gives vintage fans a glimpse of greatness – a groovy-as-hell bassline coupled with a sample of 1980s teenage punk princess Chandra that improves with every listen.
Backmasking adds to the psychedelic experience that tracks like Zap! and Colours bring to the record, while The Noisy Eater sees Biz Markie munching and rhyming about eating cereal over a pitch-shifted Beatles sample. Sunshine And Harmony features a beautiful orchestral instrumentation that moves away from the boom-bap nature of older Avalanches material.
Danny Brown reappears on The Wozard Of Iz, a standout track that exhibits a repetitive soul sample dripping with psychedelia and class. Just when you think this is the breaking point for positivity, the song takes a left turn, propelling you into the summertime with a flute sample that is oddly reminiscent of Since I Left You.
There are countless samples and features on this album that will only be discovered with time, but that’s the beauty of The Avalanches. That’s what makes this record so great – you can step back and enjoy it as a whole or choose to focus on the little things. It’s a do-it-yourself experience, wherein a certain song can completely alter the tone of your day, while at the same time there’s unnoticed beauty in the overlooked and underappreciated.
Wildflower attempts to give a soul to the soulless; a message to all those who ever felt like they lost hope.
By Benjamin Potter
