The Avalanches have reunited with Karen O on the collaborative new single ‘Blue Shadows’ – you can listen to it below.
- Read More: The Avalanches: “Now we’re just a regular band instead of the band who made an amazing debut”
The Melbourne electronic outfit’s latest team-up with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman comes after she featured on the song ‘Dial D For Devotion’ from their third and latest studio album, 2020’s ‘We Will Always Love You’.
‘Blue Shadows’ is a haunting yet soulful cut built around a sample of ‘Shadows From Nowhere’ from early-’80s Italo act Blue Gas. “Long go nowhere that far/ Nowhere that far/ Arms I want to/ Long go holding that star/ Holding that star/ Close as you want to/ For you,” O sings.
The Avalanches Robbie Chater explained: “‘Blue Shadows’ was an idea of Andy’s [Szekeres] that was almost lost to time until Tony [Di Blasi] stumbled across it in an old folder and began championing it as a potential album song.
“It’s since become one of my favourite Avalanches tunes. Many moons later and thanks to the kindness of Claudio Casalini and the estate of [Blue Gas’] Celso Valli, it looked like Tony’s dream for ‘Blue Shadows’ might come true.”
He continued: “I included it in a selection of song ideas for Karen. We wanted her to hear it although I never imagined a vocal would be possible; the demo had such a peculiar, singular mood.
“What she recorded still amazes me after months of listening, it’s so achingly forlorn and somehow sounds as if it always existed as a song. I don’t know how that is possible, or what she was channelling; some people just have access to a higher plane I suppose!”
Karen O shared: “When Robbie sent me ‘Blue Shadows’ I jumped at the chance to collaborate. The Avalanches last record ‘We Will Always Love You’ was a gift to humanity in 2020 and I’ll count it as one of my Top 10 forever. The Avalanches’ frequency is high, I’m so happy to be asked to slide into it.”
‘Blue Shadows’ comes on the heels of The Avalanches’ collab with Jamie xx, ‘Every Single Weekend’, which was released last month. In May, they dropped the track ‘Together’ featuring Nikki Nair, Jessy Lanza and Prentiss.
The band recently performed at Primavera Sound Barcelona and announced a run of London headline shows as part of Pitchfork Music Festival in November. Earlier this year, The Avalanches hosted a surprise “free party” in the capital.
NME spoke to The Avalanches in 2020 about the legacy of their landmark 2000 debut album ‘Since I Left You’. “I still remember four years [after it was released] my girlfriend at the time said, ‘You know people say it’s a really classic record?’” Chater said. “I’d never heard anybody say that. I just heard all the shit I should’ve done better.
“I have a great relationship with the album now. It sounds like a very young me made it. It’s naïve, heart-on-sleeve, it was never cool or ironic. It was passionate, of the moment, full of joy.”
