The Avalanches’ second album Wildflower will invariably be compared to its predecessor, Since I Left You, which came out 16 years ago and has since become one of the most revered electronic albums of all time. But Wildflower is more concerned with erasing that record’s baggage than reinforcing it.
It strips away the band’s mystique by being a party album rather than an opus; this is a bigger, dumber, dirtier album than SILY. But an album like SILY could not have been made by anything but an exceptionally talented group of musicians, and Wildflower makes it clear that the Avalanches are still capable of music of remarkable vision.
Listen to “Colours” from Wildflower below.
The most obvious new turn in the band’s strategy is the use of guests. Some of them, like Danny Brown and Ariel Pink, don’t seem to be there for any reason besides appealing to the list-browsing crowd. But some kill: Toro Y Moi drifts placidly through “If I Were A Folkstar,” and Jennifer Herrema creaks her way through “Stepkids” like a warped Wanda Jackson. They’ve also found a full-time frontman in Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue, whose wide-eyed, wounded voice perfectly fits the vibe “between happy and sad” for which the band claimed to be reaching.
Wildflower is a stoner album. Toro Y Moi allegedly wrote the lyrics to “If I Were A Folkstar” about doing acid with his wife. There’s a sample of a bong rip, which comes right after an ad for a cereal whose name I guarantee will split your head wide open if you’re high. The cover’s a nod to Sly and the Family Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On, perhaps the most pot-addled album ever made. And the whole thing’s inspired by classic psychedelia, especially acid-era Beach Boys, whose rich textures and searing chord changes shine through in the album’s ambient sections.
Everyone has talked and will talk about “Noisy Eater,” the song with Biz Markie, because it’s the album’s biggest risk – and the one most obviously a goof. But it’s a funny one, even if you don’t know who’s doing the rapping. It’s also quite psychedelic, and when the Avalanches bring back the spoken-word sample from the beginning to chop it up a bit more, it’s a genuine mind-melt.
Wildflower drags at times. It’s not as packed with content as its predecessor, and as a result it feels a bit too long, whereas Since I Left You justified its hour. Some of the guests, like Danny Brown and Ariel Pink, don’t seem to be there for any reason other than to appeal to the list-browsing crowd. And the album doesn’t hit nearly the same emotional notes as Since I Left You, though it doesn’t try; there’s no crime in making a mindless feel-good album. At the end of the day, it’s no masterpiece. But it is very good, and once the Avalanches shake off the expectations attached to them, they just might make something that we didn’t know they were capable of making.
Check out our Emerald Recommends list, in which we pair albums like The Avalanches’ Since I Left You with a drink to match.
