“We Will Always Love You” [ft. Blood Orange]

It took the Avalanches the better part of 16 years to create Wildflower, the follow-up to their genre-defining debut Since I Left You. That album refined the Australian plunderphonic group’s methodology, retaining their penchant for nostalgia-laden samples while bringing in featured vocalists for the first time. Now, four years after they broke the seal, the Avalanches are back again with “We Will Always Love You,” a new collaboration with Blood Orange that also incorporates vocals from Smokey Robinson and the Roches.

Much like Wildflower’s most memorable guests—Danny Brown, Toro y Moi, the late David Berman—Dev Hynes fits right in with the Avalanches, his dramatic spoken-word style lending gravitas to what might otherwise be a relaxed mood music exercise. His lyrics don’t always stick the landing (“By me, to you, take another hit, what else to do?”), but Hynes is in top form by the second half, where the Avalanches spin a passing phrase from the Roches’ iconic “Hammond Song” into its own veritable hook. “Night time, I’m fine, dreaming of another life,” Hynes intones amidst twinkling arpeggios echoing into a black sky. “We Will Always Love You” is another lovely, if modest attempt by The Avalanches to bridge the past and present of recorded music.