The Avalanches ft. Blood Orange – We Will Always Love You

It’s not great, but it’s OK…

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[5.00]Brad Shoup: “Draped in monotony/What’s my life gotten me?” is funny as shit, exactly the kind of fake-deep sentiment someone would spit up on a trip-hop single circa ’99. Even as the feature, Hynes is the odd one out, only making sense when he follows the lead of the Roches, who are now recasted as sunshine pop. The Avalanches’ reification of the sixties continues apace. They probably would have spliced “Because” into the outro if Ono had let them.
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Vikram Joseph: I hadn’t considered how much these two artists have in common sonically until now; this floaty, yearning Baroque-pop confection sounds quintessentially Avalanches but could easily have slotted in to the back half of Cupid Deluxe. It sounds a bit lightweight at first, but after a few listens the way it blossoms in the second half is rather lovely, and Dev Hynes’s spoken word vocals convey a tenderness that’s hard to pin down, but which seeps into every corner of the song.
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Joshua Minsoo Kim: Blood Orange shouldn’t have done any spoken word as he only detracts from the cute sample-play going on here. He forces a seriousness into a song whose poignance is subtle; it’s OK if your song is just glistening instrumentation and heartfelt coos.
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Ian Mathers: Plush as hell, but by that token kind of like a musical throw pillow?
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Alfred Soto: I could say, disparagingly, “A mood rather than a song,” but then I’d have to explain the mood and whether I like it.
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Michael Hong: The syrupy instrumental flows like a current around you, while the sampled voices seem to fade in and out of consciousness. However, along the way, the track’s message becomes warped beyond the point of recognition, and both the samples and Dev Hynes are almost washed away by the pitter-patter of the drums. There’s still something left in the cosmic goop and for a couple of minutes, The Avalanches envelop you in a warm light that doesn’t quite feel like love, but is a nice enough substitute until you find the real thing.
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