Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan confessed their (interstellar) love for one another during a phone message in June of 1977, just months before the most cosmically ambitious mission of humankind would commence on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts. The pair were paramount in the mission’s purpose, abstract, and legacy. Visionaries of what Earth could be represented as a diverse collective of ideology, music, language, and desire. But one message transcended all, as corny and derivative it may have become over the decades since, is love.

Imprinted on those golden records of the Voyager spacecrafts was Ann Druyan’s brainwaves and heartbeat as she pondered on about life, god, the future, and the present as she fell love with a man of equal ambition and vision. To think that carried on a craft traveling into interstellar space at 35,000 miles per hour, is the electronically embedded thoughts of a human experiencing the most natural, warming, and necessary component of life. Love.

even now, whenever I’m down I’m thinking “and still they move”, 35,000 miles an hour, leaving our solar system for the great open sea of interstellar space

Both The Avalanches single “Interstellar Love” and the third album We Will Always Love You are flush with the influence that Druyan and Sagan touted paramount for the years after the Voyager launch. The album’s cover features Ann Druyan’s picture (originally taken at a benefit dinner with her and Carl in 1980) fed thru a spectrograph. As the band stated “we turned her into sound and back again”, it is surely the central theme stemming from that original and renouned golden phonograph aboard the Voyager.

The song itself rings personal but not without a technical and artistic appreciation. The Avalanches sampled a pair of recognizable melodies, one a Somali folk song, and most notably a stanza in the pre-chorus of Alan Parson’s Project’s most successful hit, “Eye in the Sky” (maybe a subtle commentary on technology’s role in our lives today in stark contrast to the ideology expressed at the time during the Voyager mission?).

Complementing the sampled melodies and driving Avalanche breakbeats, is the velvety voice of Leon Bridges belting all too impactful and honest lyrics echoing Ann’s sentiments.

Follow the Light, Hold it in your hand, Our love belongs among the stars, Expanding from within

With a driving muted bass drum beat akin to Doves’ “The Pounding”. Ethereal mixing and sampling garners immediate comparisons to 90’s acid jazz trip hop pioneers Massive Attack. I love particularly how the first two verses of Leon’s lyrics and pronounced piano chords make way to a chill double step beat of the pre-chorus (see 1min42sec below). The track will easily fit into my top40, which would be the third song from The Avalanches to honor such a title. (really, the list is 90 percent tambourine/bass drum beats).

Love is such a personal but necessary part of life. Difficult to admit, awkward to share, regretful to lose. Hug those you love with the same intensity and purpose as you do in your imagination. Share that love from your heart and mind, “expanding among the stars”.