It doesn’t take much to trigger an avalanche. Sometimes a fresh fall of snow or the warmth of the rising sun on a mountain slope is enough. In this case, though, it was just a brief entry on a social media feed – barely more than a link to this YouTube video:

Aimee Mann is an American singer/songwriter. She started performing in punk and new wave bands in the early 80s, founded her own band (‘Til Tuesday) in 1983, and embarked on a solo career in 1990. Since 1993 she has released 10 studio albums, one live album, one compilation and one soundtrack album, as well as some 30 singles. That’s not exactly an avalanche, but it is a very respectable work rate. And Aimee’s songs are well regarded, too; two of her albums have won Grammy Awards, and she has a number of other awards and nominations to her name.

Avalanche is a cover of the Leonard Cohen song, released as a single in 2020. Aimee’s version retains the urgent finger-style acoustic guitar of the original, slightly enhances the strings, adds haunting vocal harmonies, and slips subtle layers of piano and electric guitar into the mix. You can’t beat Leonard Cohen’s voice or the sparser strings of the Nick Cave version, but to my ear, Aimee’s is the best yet.

Avalanche, it seems, has another meaning, too:

Avalanche is a decentralized, open-source proof of stake blockchain with smart contract functionality.

Wikipedia

Crotchety Man will endeavour to avoid both the sliding tonnes of snow and the unstable cryptocurrency form. Neither is a safe place to be. If you are more adventurous, you might want to look up some advice on how to survive an avalanche.