Rumours surrounding the possibility of a second album from Melbourne-based sample kings The Avalanches have been circling for years, and now there’s even more proof of the album’s existence. It has also been revealed that one of the group’s founding members, Darren Seltmann, is no longer part of band.

In an interview with Melbourne’s Herald Sun, Seltmann’s singer-songwriter wife Sally Seltmann has revealed that her husband, who also played with two other founding Avalanches members in the pre-Avalanches noise punk band Alarm 115, is no longer part of the group. “He’s not in The Avalanches any more,” she explained, adding that “nobody seems to pick up on that”.

Darren Seltmann’s departure from the group isn’t a recent occurrence according to a comment provided to the Herald Sun by a representative from Modular Recordings, The Avalanches’ record label.

“Yep, Darren hasn’t been in the band for a while,” the representative said, “So officially the band is Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi right now.” The rep also commented on the state of the long-rumoured follow-up to the group’s critically acclaimed 2000 debut album, Since I Left You, saying: “Album sounds awesome, but there’s no dates or anything planned. The official line is ‘stay tuned’.”

Since 2006, rumours of new material purported that the new album had been almost fully completed in 2011, it was then apparently scheduled for a 2012 release, the band released a mixtape proving that work had by no means halted, and they even appeared to be working with old mates Cut Copy at one stage.

The band also contributed a slice of new material to the King Kong musical. Then there were rumours of a February 2014 album release following a September 2013 single, and then what looked like new material turned out to be a remix.

The influence of The Avalanches’ debut album is still being felt over a decade since its release, with Astral People’s musical alumni gathering together to perform the band’s hit songs Since I Left You and Frontier Psychiatrist in the Music Feeds Studio late last year.

Watch: The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist

Watch: Astral People Present Since I Left You – Frontier Psychiatrist

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(Via FasterLouder)