The long awaited, near mythical second album from The Avalanches is “definitely going to come out this year” according to collaborator (and Royal Trux/RTX singer-songwriter) Jennifer Herrema.

In December, The Avalanches announced that they were working with Herrema on a track called The Stepkids, which they boasted is “probably the best song we ever done”.

Herrema has now spoken to Pitchfork about the tune, revealing that the Avalanches’ Robbie Chater emailed her “out of the blue” asking her to write lyrics for the track. “They had some music, and it made them think of a song I would have written, maybe something Royal Trux or RTX did,” Herrema explains. “There’s something inspired by youth, shit I’ve been through.”

Herrema came up with a melody line, vocals, and lyrics, and describes the track as as, “very melancholy – this little teenage-street-kid melancholy. I can identify with being young and lost. I remember times when I was really fucked up. You do stuff that you need to do to get by, but you still have a conscience.”

“They said the album is definitely going to come out this year,” mentioned Herrema, referring to the the long-delayed release. “And I heard [rapper] Danny Brown is going to guest on the record, too.” As previously reported, the album will also feature a collaboration with lo-fi oddball Ariel Pink.

Of course this isn’t the first time we’ve been teased with news of a new Avalanches album. Way back in December 2008 Modular kingpin Steve Pavlovic that he’d receive a copy of the album on Christmas Day that year and then in May last year he announced that the band had “finished and they’re celebrating. They’re going to have a little party to celebrate finishing it. The next stage will see the album go to someone to mix. And then we’ll probably drop a song later this year, and the album early next year.” According to a tweet from the band the album’s working title is On a Saturday or Friday Night Fever.

The Avalanches followed this announcement by playing an uninspiring show at the Pavlovic-curated Vivid festival in Sydney and announcing plans to re-issue their debut album with remixes by El Guincho, MF Doom, Canyons and more.