THE AVALANCHES
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right tone in their voice ? Who ’ s got the perfect timbre in their vocals ? Who might be perfect for this music ?” So it wasn ’ t so much a wish list — the music always led the way . And I think that ’ s why it ended up being — hopefully — a very cohesive record . And then it was just a matter of beginning a conversation and reaching out to an artist like Sananda Maitreya ( who appears on “ Reflecting Light ”) and just saying , “ Look — this is what we ’ re interested in exploring , these things .” And that ’ s when people would say , “ Listen — I know what you ’ re talking about , and I would love to try something !” And then a back-and-forth , collaborative process would begin .
IE : Who was your toughest ‘ get ’? The white whale you never expected to land ? Johnny Marr ? RC : No , that ended up being really easy . And his part just came through one night in the middle of the night . I woke up the next morning , and there was an email with Johnny Marr ’ s guitar parts , and I nearly fucking died ! I couldn ’ t believe it . And that was one of those ones that we thought would never happen , not in years . But often with an artist , they ’ re part of our DNA already anyway . And I know , obviously , that The Clash is so iconic . But for me , Mick Jones ’ work with Big Audio Dynamite was some of the first sampling I ever heard , and my young brain was like , “ What the fuck is that ?” Because Big Audio Dynamite had some hits on the radio in Australia when I was growing up . So that was some of the first sampling I ever heard , and I was instantly curious - I wanted to make music like that . So it just makes perfect sense to me that Mick Jones ended up on one of our songs , because he ’ s part of our musical DNA already .
IE : Did you meet any artists in person , or was it all done by exchanging files ? RC : A bit of both . In 2019 , I was lucky enough to travel and I recorded in Los Angeles , and that was really great . Because we ’ re sample-based artists , so we ’ d made our previous records kind of in isolation . So part of the joy of making this record was just being in the studio with other real , live human beings , and not working with artists that we were sampling from the ‘ 40s . I feel like I ’ m working with spirits and ghosts a lot of times when I ’ m sampling old music . So working with real live musicians was a real kick for me , and the change in lifestyle was really invigorating . Traveling the world and working with other people was a real gift , and something I will never forget . january 2021 illinoisentertainer . com 33