The Avalanches Wildflower on 2LP

First New Album Since Genre-Defying Australian Band's Critically Acclaimed, Award Winning 2000 Debut Since I Left You!

Sixteen years after the release of their critically acclaimed, award winning debut Since I Left You, The Avalanches return with their second album, Wildflower. Astralwerks is thrilled to be releasing the long-awaited album from the influential and genre-defying Australian band stating, "It is an absolute honor to be working with The Avalanches on their return. They made an incredible impact with their first album and fans all over the world have been waiting for this. The wait is over."

Created by the band's core duo – Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi – Wildflower is like The Beach Boys' Smile re-imagined in the Daisy Age: a mind-bending cartoon road movie that's best viewed with closed eyes and an open mind. The first single, "Frankie Sinatra," draws from a variety of eras, cultures and genres, and exemplifies the rich tapestry of samples and sonics that is distinctly The Avalanches. An infectious, old world, carnival-inspired rollercoaster of a song, "Frankie Sinatra" features Danny Brown and MF Doom on vocals and masterfully weaves in 20th century works by influential calypsonian Wilmoth Houdini and the musical theatre team of Rodgers & Hammerstein.

Since I Left You – released in Australia in 2000 and in the U.S. and the U.K. in 2001 – perfectly captured the hazy millennial zeitgeist. Pitchfork awarded it a 9.5/10 rating, noting, "Since I Left You sounds like nothing else...this is an album brimming with spontaneity, joy, sadness, humor, reflection, and general human-ness" while NME hailed the album as a "joyous, kaleidoscopic masterpiece of sun-kissed disco-pop." Since I Left You was named one of 2001's best albums by numerous critics – and its enduring influence was underscored when it placed in the top 10 of Pitchfork's Top 200 Albums of the 2000s.

The Avalanches, meanwhile, have become the stuff of folklore. The announcement of the release of Wildflower comes after years of speculation and rumors. "What kept us going during the making this record was a belief in the day-to-day experience of music as a life force – as life energy," says The Avalanches' Robbie Chater. "Hearing a certain song on a certain morning can change your day; it can make the world look different, changing the way you perceive light refracting through the atmosphere for the rest of the afternoon. Literally changing the color and feeling-tone of your world."