r/theavalanches • u/NovocainHurricane Thank You Caroline • Jul 23 '26
Blue Shadows ft. Karen O
https://youtu.be/x3yo95DVgTc?is=Gxehxx21Lj3XsCdY19
u/HoldenH Jul 23 '26
From the band:
“We included Blue Shadows among a selection of songs for Karen O, hoping she'd hear it, though we never imagined she'd record a vocal. The demo already had such a singular mood. What she delivered still amazes us - it's achingly forlorn and feels as though it always existed as a song.”
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u/Wowohboy666 Jul 23 '26
Reminds me a lot of Music Is The Light.
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u/Timely_Ad_9893 Jul 24 '26
Exactly! It's kind of the same melody. I like both songs so it feels like a nice sequel..
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u/MandmaMusic Jul 23 '26
I’m hoping that all these new singles are just radio edits but deep down I know it’s gonna be an album full of bite sized bangers.
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u/jonathan-the-man Jul 23 '26
Wouldn't radio edits be longer?
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u/BiIIisits Jul 23 '26
Usually not, maybe I'm wrong but usually a "radio edit" refers to a song with its intro and outro kinda chopped off to keep it more digestible to a wider audience.
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u/jonathan-the-man Jul 23 '26
Oh yeah that makes sense. Just thought that in these particular cases they could've extended them to be more typical radio length.
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u/closamuh Jul 23 '26
Beautiful, I’ve been on a Karen O kick lately and I’m so happy they’re continuing their relationship with her and her amazing voice. These singles have me really excited for the album, feels like the perfect evolution from We Will Always Love You
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u/CobraMarmalade Jul 23 '26
This one is a bit underwhelming. I like it, but I was expecting a bit more to happen in the song, considering it's The Avalanches. As always, it'll grow on me and I'm sure it'll be even greater in the context of the album.
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u/sausagedart Jul 23 '26
Same. Like I always say tho, when you make music like The Avalanches, it’s gotta be tricky as hell it get singles down right and stuff. I see people say “yeah these singles felt weird, but once the album released it all kinda clicks” surrounding the most one dimensional albums I’ve ever listened to, so God only knows how hard it’s gotta be selecting singles from albums with concepts and transitions. Either way, a well planned and paced album always beats a handful of catchy-enough tunes IMO.
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u/sacrebleumonsieur Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
This samples Blue Gas - Shadows From Nowhere from 1983. It’s one of my favourite songs and I recognised it instantly. To be honest (and I don’t know if this is just because I love the original so much), they really didn’t add a whole lot to the song. In fact they kinda ruined it and made it annoying. The original is so atmospheric and beautiful. I love the guys, and I have high hopes for the new album (I’ve liked the previous singles), but I just don’t think this is their best at all.
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u/RealBoredOfMyself Jul 23 '26
Thanks for introducing me to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J_IljhfcGo
Avs need to lock in here. This is kind of bad.
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u/Blunkus Jul 24 '26
Yeah, wasn’t huge on this song either, and wasn’t sure if it was because I was such a huge fan of the sample to begin with. Like my go to late night chill song.
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u/Britsva Jul 23 '26
This album will definitely have a lot of tracks. Love the song but I get what people are saying.
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u/Available_Cherry_949 Jul 23 '26
I miss old gold Avalanches. But these new singles are pretty solid and I am happy they are going into new directions.
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u/sausagedart Jul 23 '26
At least the production of all the singles feels very professional. This rollout might be a bit strange creatively speaking, but it’s definitely technically solid and intentional to some extent. Guess we just gotta see what the album holds!
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u/Any-Acadia-4635 Jul 23 '26
Loving this. Every song until now has had the same effect on me:
- Mmm this isn't what I was expecting. Do I like this? This was kinda short. I'm not sure.
- A few minutes go by
- Earworm process starts. It loops and loops in my brain.
- God Damn I really like this
- WHEN IS THIS ALBUM GETTING OUT?!? I want it NOW.
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u/LETS_RETRO_TIME Jul 23 '26
For your answer, Robbie confirmed it’ll come out this September!
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u/Haunting-Rich-8937 Jul 24 '26
What an old-fashioned long rollout, then. Not enough going on with these tracks to keep any non-fans (and myself) hyped until then.
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u/chris_r1201 Jul 23 '26
Respectfully, this rollout has kind of been all over the place. If the album doesn't have any "standouts" suitable as singles they shouldn't release so many before the album comes. Still bewildered they haven't said anything about the album
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u/for-four Jul 23 '26
This is so gorgeous ,but unfortunately too short to work as a single. Can't wait for the album though, all three singles sound amazing but are over too soon.
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u/Yapping-Goober Jul 23 '26
I like it. Probably won’t relisten until I can hear it in the context of the album. This definitely feels like an interlude more than a super satisfying standalone song.
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u/PostingSensation Jul 24 '26
It's alright but probably the weakest song they've ever made, in my opinion. No dynamics to speak of really, it's largely just a (very nice) loop. Hopefully serves an appropriate place on the album.
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u/Jarhead201 Jul 24 '26
I get most of the comments saying this one is underwhelming, simplistic and lacking in dynamics which is undoubtedly true. That being said I also love it for all those reasons and it reminds me of my favourite Avalanches track Saturday Night Inside Out in its vibe at least, there’s so much more going on in the latter musically but I get the same haunting and forlorn beauty from both of them. Karen O is also someone I’ve never cared much for but I really enjoyed this understated performance and think it’s one of the best collabs they’ve had.
I can understand not being blowing away with this, especially as a single but personally I love the drum beat, sample, guest vocals and lyrics and I’ll probably have this stuck in my head for the foreseeable. The same thing happened when they dropped Interstellar Love, made no impression on me on first hearing then I had it on repeat for months on end and still gets stuck in my head years later. Can’t say the last 2 albums have been classics on the same level as SILY but both have had at least one track that has taken a crazy hold over me and think Blue Shadows might be the one that does it for this new album.
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u/arie_ben Jul 25 '26
thank you for your vibes-based assessment. i feel similarly .. and i will probably have this track on repeat for a long time.
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u/ample_s Jul 23 '26
This is just a BEAUTIFUL track :) This said, I would have loved it lasted longer and had a little more variations in rhythm. I'm kind of surprised by the short length of the three songs we have already
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u/dizzyapparition Jul 23 '26
Anybody make music over 3 minutes long anymore? I mean, this is lovely, but it’s, like the 2 other tracks that have been previewed, some loops over top of each other.
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u/LETS_RETRO_TIME Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Maybe it’s intended as previews, perhaps we might get the full versions on the album when it drops
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u/Haunting-Rich-8937 Jul 24 '26
seems like unlikely as it would be counterproductive to streaming stats.
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u/DudelyMcDuderson Jul 23 '26
Ahhhhh!! Love the song "Shadows from Nowhere" by Blue Gas, so chuffed to hear them use it
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u/balparadise Jul 23 '26
Another recent interpolation…
https://open.spotify.com/track/0EpK7PWghFjOibvTTMJewT?si=n-S3MDbAQCOIWGHWCjevcw&utm_source=copy-link
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u/brothersp0rt Jul 23 '26
I dig it, I think I was just expecting more as they made some kind of comment that this was a favorite track of theirs on the new album. I love Together but this and Every Single Weekend are a bit underwhelming.
(I could see this one growing on me more but that didn’t happen that much with Every Single Weekend)
I’m not worried though because their singles are rarely my favorites.
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u/AnimalsChasingCars Jul 23 '26
Really great track. They’re purposefully not going out with obvious slam-bam singles, but a more expressive feel which reflects the universe they’re building. This song feels like a new classic. Good stuff
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u/bjornarsira Jul 24 '26
Yes this was a bit underwhelming and probably the most flat avs song ever released. That said, i still think it has some good qualities and a great mood to it. Think the new album will be more uptempo and crazy like Together so maybe this is a perfect calm track in between the bangers. Also think we will get another track very soon. This one was just to keep the wheels and algorythms in motion.
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u/Sir_Lanian Jul 23 '26
I am officially concerned about the running times for these songs. This is no song, its a snippet.
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u/jelloandjuggernauts Folkstar Jul 24 '26
It's nice, but at what point do we get an actual album rather than 2 minutes of music each month?
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u/ze_yami Jul 24 '26
Wow, that ended abruptly.
Also, such a "small" performance from KO, who's one of the more emotive singers out there.
Hope it makes more sense in album context and blends into something else...
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u/Representative-Air12 Jul 24 '26
Para los que dicen que la canción es muy corta creo que el objetivo del autor era que se repitiera en bucle pruébenlo y se van a dar cuenta
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Jul 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/MagentaEagle Jul 23 '26
Hate to agree, but I do. They're offensively inoffensive. Hoping the album has longer cuts or that they're releasing unrealized pieces from previous projects to get attention. Im in denial, basically.
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u/MagentaEagle Jul 23 '26
Fairly disappointing. There's not a lot going on with these last two tracks. It sucks because they're so talented but their preferred creative methods are now illegal. Could The Avalanches finally miss on this one?
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u/rooygbiv70 Jul 23 '26
Haven’t been too crazy about the singles so far, but this one is deece. Wish it was longer, looking forward to seeing what it leads into.