The Avalanches‘ sophomore album Wildflower has arrived, at long last, after a whopping 16-year gestation period.
And now that it’s ~finally~ reached our ears, many fans have been pondering the question of: what took them so goddamn long?
Well, to coincide with the album’s official release this week, the DJ crew have revealed some of the factors that delayed the follow-up to their landmark 2000 debut Since I Left You for a period of time that’s almost as long as Cody Simpson has been walking this earth.
And incredibly, one of the main contributing factors was Avalanches member Robbie Chater being diagnosed with several autoimmune diseases simultaneously, which knocked him out for a decent chunk of time.
“There were… three years in the mid-2000s when I was really unwell,” the producer told Pitchfork. “I was diagnosed with a couple of separate autoimmune diseases, so I was out of action.”
Chater also explained that a minefield of copyright clearance issues for the LP’s samples held things up a fair bit. That, and the group’s own rabid perfectionism.
“We had to make a lot of music to break through that perfection thing and really start to embrace all our imperfections,” he explained.
“As far as samples, they started clearing stuff years ago, but then there would be some hold-up and they’d have to go back and renegotiate. People would give permission for us to use the sample, and then a certain amount of time would elapse and they would Google who the band is and be like, ‘Oh shit, I can ask for more money’. That sort of thing took forever.”
But the important thing is, it’s here now.
Stream The Avalanches long, long, long-awaited second LP Wildflower in full below via Apple Music, ahead of its worldwide release this Friday, 8th July.
