The second prominent sample comes from folk trio The Roches, whose gorgeous harmonies on 1979’s Hammond Song imbue the lyric “ we will always love you, but that’s not the point” with misty-eyed melancholy. A 1969 track that closed out Time Out for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, it was one of just two songs on the record penned by Robinson alone. That patient opening spotlights a flip of I’ll Take You Any Way That You Come by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, taking full advantage of Smokey’s crisp and unimbued vocal line. He might be the only featured artist, but he’s far from alone on the slow-building track.

The title track and lead single, We Will Always Love You, found The Avalanches collaborating with British singer-songwriter Blood Orange. The samples of The Avalanches' We Will Always Love You: In keeping with their sweeping take on light, sound and spirit, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the ‘ghost voices’ that help make We Will Always Love You such a beautiful record. It’s often said that you can better understand an artist by looking at their influences and idols – when it comes to The Avalanches, that’s especially true. Their music is informed by glimpses of the past, their appreciation interlinking with their creative process in an uncommonly intimate way. It’s a testament to music’s endurance, holding traces of heart and soul even beyond our own lifetimes, but it also speaks to the group’s deep love of artistry. In exhuming bygone art, The Avalanches explore the agelessness of earnest expression, deriving power and beauty from the sounds left behind. These cross-generational collaborations provide more than just music, the interwoven threads of past and present playing into their cosmic odyssey of light, sound and spirit. These voices and sounds are bolstered by the duo’s deliberate approach, furnished by their honed instrumental arrangements and centred by their spacious mixes. It may be less sample-oriented than both 2000’s Since I Left You and 2016’s Wildflower, but that doesn’t make for a less striking record – in fact, if anything, the discerning use of samples on We Will Always Love You only makes for a greater impact. The Avalanches have been flipping fragments into full-blown symphonies since the close of the 20th century, so it’s no surprise that their recent record, We Will Always Love You, is filled to the brim with creative samples.

Ghost of You by Kelly Moran