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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
On a 25-track album with remarkably little filler, Robbie Chater and Tony de Blasi have forged a mature, miasmic exploration of their concept of ‘forever voices’.
100
Spanning 25 tracks, We Will Always Love You opens with heartfelt voice messages and closes with Morse code bleeps sent out by Nasa scientists to a star cluster in 1974. By drawing out the torture of longing for an absent loved one, Chater and Di Blasi masterfully convey the possibility that there’s more to life than we dare to think.
96
When it seems like there's no reason to go on, when everything's broken, when you are hit harder than you can imagine by loss, listen to this - a practically perfect record.
90
It’s an album that’s somehow halfway between DJ mix and a greatest hits compilation, and arguably the best of The Avalanches’ trio of releases thus far.
90
Though not as technically jaw-dropping as their 2000 debut, Since I Left You, or its belated follow-up, 2016’s Wildflower, both of which are said to employ upward of 3,500 samples apiece, We Will Always Love You is undoubtedly the Avalanches’s most conceptual effort to date.
90
They ditched their plunderphonics-only mindset, grabbed ahold of new artists as vocal guests, and still managed to make it a great addition to their discography, with as many, if not more important lessons to gain.
85
The most impressive thing about the record is the way it simultaneously exists as a collection of pristine singles and a complete whole.
83
The Avalanches have crafted an album that beckons the listener to see time as something pliable. It shows us a world in which outer space is within reach, in which radios crackle like fires and offer us similar venues for passing down our stories between generations.
81
The Australian group’s ambitious third album overflows with ideas, samples, guests, and sheer stimuli. In their sparkling music, every sound feels like a treasured memory.
80
While the quality isn’t always consistent, the careful curation ensures everything hangs together with a satisfying sense of completion.
80
We Will Always Love You is an emotional rollercoaster, and a lovingly put-together tapestry that signals The Avalanches entering the 2020s as vibrant as ever.
80
Though it’s messy, flawed, and in need of an editor in places, We Will Always Love You is a beautiful and heartbreaking album that was worth the comparatively short wait.
80
Having perfected euphoric ambience from sampling on their first two albums, the Aussie duo prove just as uplifting via a series of inspired collaborations.
80
There’s much to discover here, making it an immersive and rewarding album to go back to again and again.
80
With songs filled with lost voices, and lyrics hinting at interstellar distances, The Avalanches’ core idea is that these are ghost sounds, broadcast from Earth and travelling to infinity. Yet on such a dizzyingly mixed set of sonic non-sequiturs, meaning seems arbitrary, casting listeners adrift from one lovely moment to the next.
80
Aware that these songs are unlikely to be heard at a gig or in a nightclub any time soon, the feel is more subdued
80
We Will Always Love You is a story in its own right. The remarkable kind that you pick up before bed and you do not put down until daylight comes.
80
This never feels thrown-together, which is some achievement. Instead, the album feels like one to spend ample amounts of time with as you travel into its far-flung corners as it reaches for the stars.
80
The album is neither stuck in the past nor barreling recklessly towards the future, and, in this sense, it's a lavish genre-agnostic mixtape.
80
The Aussie sample-pop duo bring on Rivers Cuomo, Karen O, Blood Orange, Leon Bridges, and many others for a rich LP of poignant, chill-out soul that flows by like a seamless mixtape.
80
It's a different kind of majesty from a band haunted by their monumental, defining debut, 2001's Since I Left You. By opening their sound to new collaborators and the wide expanse of the sky, the Avalanches have found a way to move forward, alone but together.
80
The Avalanches have made an album more meticulous than most musicians who start with sounds anew. Thankfully they have the grace and experience to take on new themes and voices, and stay light on their toes.
80
At a time where it is often painful to remember past freedoms, here we are instead treated to a hopeful look forward. It’s the sort of artistic escapism we could all use more of.
80
We Will Always Love You is an impressive mediation on everything that matters, and of letting go of what doesn’t. Nevermind a normal band being able to create this; a normal band wouldn’t even attempt it.
80
The production duo narrow the gap between releases on their third album in two decades. The meditative tone suggests they'll continue to go the distance.
80
Overall, the guest artists are more attuned here with Chater and Di Blasi, who were seemingly burdened much more by sample licensing than by commercial expectations. Pocket some tissue and hold tight.
77
The LP is woven with otherworldly, alien sounds, yet there is an undeniable coziness to the songs—thanks in part to the cozy crackle of vinyl samples and stirring vocals—that combats the coldness often associated with outer space.
70
Voice recordings are precious, particularly those of the dead. It’s easy to forget what somebody sounds like once they’re gone. The Avalanches weave past with present to articulate the emotional gravity of love, time, and space – and what better way to do so than through music, which might survive everything, even the stars.
67
With some trimming, We Will Always Love You might have been a victory lap, but instead it feels like The Avalanches would have been better off taking another decade to fine-tune it.
60
From start to finish, the new album presents a new wave for The Avalanches, and we’re more than happy to go along for the ride.
60
The Avalanches as a collaborative pop project isn't a bad look, but the guests here embarrass themselves in too many ways, mostly through vague polemics.
50
Supposedly inspired by the romance between scientists Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan, We Will Always Love You drifts aimlessly through vague love songs with equally vague titles, only occasionally bumping into a hit.
50
For as stylistically cohesive and seamlessly flowing as We Will Always Love You is, it's somehow a tale of two albums.
I’m guessing a lot of people are gonna love this and if you do, I don’t have a problem with that. Enjoy what you enjoy. However, as an Avalanches fan, I was incredibly disappointed by this album. I’ll try my best to explain my current thought process about this album.
Let me preface this review by saying that if you liked the singles, you’ll probably like the album. However, if you were iffy on this album’s singles like I was, then you will probably be just as on ... read more
I went into this wanting to write a substantial review for this. I mean, it’d be my first avalanches album I’d followed the entire creation of, the first one I’d have the privilege of being able to review as soon as it drops, the first time I could say I was there for the drop of one of their projects. But as I went on throughout this project, I released…
…I had nothing to say. I was left speechless for the entire runtime. All 25 tracks, all 71 minutes. Just ... read more
We Will Always Love You Avalanches. We Will Always Love Your Legacy.
The critically acclaimed electronic music group based in Australia is back again with their 3rd album, "We Will Always Love You". Known for their previous projects that I was personally fond of "Wildflower" and "Since I Left You", the band is coming back only 4 years later for a new album. Their style and creativity brought them to the top. Plunderphonics isn't a genre most are familiar of, but ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Ghost Story 1:23 feat. Orono | 80 |
| 2 | Song For Barbara Payton 1:40 | 80 |
| 3 | We Will Always Love You 2:52 feat. Blood Orange | 89 |
| 4 | The Divine Chord 3:07 feat. MGMT, Johnny Marr | 93 |
| 5 | Solitary Ceremonies 1:14 | 80 |
| 6 | Interstellar Love 3:38 feat. Leon Bridges | 86 |
| 7 | Ghost Story Pt. 2 1:15 feat. Orono, Leon Bridges | 78 |
| 8 | Reflecting Light 4:21 feat. Sananda Maitreya, Vashti Bunyan | 83 |
| 9 | Carrier Waves 0:57 | 72 |
| 10 | Oh The Sunn! 2:18 feat. Perry Farrell | 87 |
| 11 | We Go On 4:01 feat. Cola Boyy, Mick Jones | 85 |
| 12 | Star Song.IMG 0:10 | 67 |
| 13 | Until Daylight Comes 2:27 feat. Tricky | 72 |
| 14 | Wherever You Go 5:50 | 76 |
| 15 | Music Makes Me High 3:21 | 83 |
| 16 | Pink Champagne 0:12 | 66 |
| 17 | Take Care in Your Dreaming 5:00 | 84 |
| 18 | Overcome 3:31 | 78 |
| 19 | Gold Sky 4:28 feat. Kurt Vile | 76 |
| 20 | Always Black 3:36 feat. Pink Siifu | 82 |
| 21 | Dial D For Devotion 0:31 feat. Karen O | 76 |
| 22 | Running Red Lights 4:39 feat. Rivers Cuomo, Pink Siifu | 87 |
| 23 | Born To Lose 4:53 | 81 |
| 24 | Music Is The Light 3:08 feat. Cornelius, Kelly Moran | 77 |
| 25 | Weightless 2:57 | 65 |
Total Length: 1 hour, 11 minutes
Year End Lists
| #1 | / | Double J |
| #2 | / | Variety: Jem Aswad |
| #6 | / | Good Morning America |
| #18 | / | The Independent |
| #20 | / | Gothamist |
| #26 | / | Piccadilly Records |
| #39 | / | Les Inrocks |
| #41 | / | The FADER |
| #48 | / | The Young Folks |
| #98 | / | Under the Radar |
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1w
It's really interesting that this album has so many rare feature. MGMT and Jamie XX have only had a few features and both of them are on this album.
Added on: November 16, 2019