Albums Of The Decade: #5 – Since I Left You

by Vinh on December 8th, 2009

The turn of the millennium was a precarious period for musicians as it succeeded the creation and blossoming of myriad subgenres. Some were displaying signs of swift saturation — trip hop — while others were poised to soar toward unprecedented heights — post-rock. Producing output within the former could lead to reliable “beating a dead horse” brickbat whereas material within the latter could engender cries of crest-riding. Unsure of which fresh path to blaze for the medium, artists began looking to the past for guidance as well as inspiration. What’s old was new again, evidenced by large scale revivals in garage rock and post-punk which helped propel underground sensibilities into mainstream consciousness. Acts such as The Strokes and Interpol broke through not by aping their sonic predecessors, but by distilling their essence and subsequently employing it to spin distinctive threads of their own.

This renewed interest in sonic ancestry may be best typified by The Avalanches’ 2001 full-length Since I Left You, a dazzling electronic journey assembled by Australian duo Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann. Comprised of roughly 3500 samples, the twosome’s first full-length constitutes the finest debut in ages, a breathless amalgam of homespun melodies, stirring beats, and eldritch bells and whistles. Despite the spooky hums and utterances reminding us that this is indeed foreign territory, there’s a winsome warmth to the record. Opener ‘Since I Left You’ drives this air of comfort home from the outset as dulcet guitar strums usher in a gentle tide of enchanting vocals. As if to ease us into the ride, the tune briefly decreases in volume as an old friend greets us as the door. “Get a drink, have a good time now. Welcome to paradise.”

Come to think of it, the deft balancing act on show between the exotic and familiar brings up an interesting duality regarding this album. Many view Since I Left You as unabashed ear candy for music geeks while just as many hear an exceptional party record. Both takes hold true. On one hand, we have the gauzy, intricate ditty ‘Close To You’. On the other, we have the rousing beat-heavy ‘Flight Tonight’; second only to ‘Live At Dominoes’ in terms of immediacy. However, there are commonalities at the very core of these songs that render them fit to stand side by side. Regardless of the eras from which these samples were plucked, they’re deconstructed and reconstructed with such meticulous attention to detail that they all eventually belong to The Avalanches. Cues are borrowed from Madonna, Sergio Mendes, and Raekwon — which surely contributes to this sense of deja entendu — only to be entirely transfigured, turned on their respective heads, and sculpted to fit within the record’s framework.

Beyond cohesion, this album succeeds in large part due to sequencing. It travels with the organic fluidity of IDM while registering with the snappy precision of pop. This shouldn’t be particularly surprising though. Chater has stated that the goal was to create “a great pop record” and it’s almost as if he’s the one asking “Can’t you hear it?” at the tail end of groovy ditty ‘Radio’. Conversely, Since I Left You was also initially devised as a concept album detailing the romantic woes of a man perpetually one port behind his love. This is just as much of a sprawling, exhaustive affair as it is a sugary, infectious one. ‘Electricity’ captures this peculiarity, equipped with a beaming summertime rhythm in addition to gorgeous, vaguely doleful harmonies. Other inclusions are far less circuitous in their purveyance of emotional heft, namely ‘Tonight’ and ‘Little Journey’, melancholy-drenched entries ferrying us to a distant, golden era of popular song. ‘Two Hearts in 3/4 Time’ seems to reach a middle ground of sorts, commencing with rambunctious oohs and yeahs as if to draw our gaze only to hand the baton over to those feathery, solemn vocals once more. The most succinct representation of Avalancheian profundity is ‘Pablo’s Cruise’, coincidentally the track after which the album was originally titled. Weighing in at a diminutive 52 seconds, nautical traces pervade every slow-burning instant as the song hisses and crackles along until a boat horn is blown in resounding fashion. It’s downright enormous, attempting to repel the titanic waves (depicted in the artwork) engulfing the ship. Since I Left You wades in the ocean and yells down bottomless wells all at once.

Despite the surely painstaking process undergone in piecing this wonderful opus together, it brims with effortless spontaneity. There is perhaps no finer embodiment here than ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’, a bewildering, hysterical, shape-shifting mishmash complete with horses neighing, hokey dialogue, and spectral murmurs. A grizzled-voiced man instructs us to “grab a kazoo, let’s have a tune” and one almost gets the impression this brand of improvisation was the impetus behind the record, as if Chater and Seltmann embarked on a trip one day, scooping up samples impulsively without ever deviating from the course. This whimsy imbues the duo’s work with a playground-like innocence that prevents the admittedly rich tapestry of sounds from becoming cumbersome. It’s dense, yes, but constantly on the move.

Closer ‘Extra Kings’ rounds off the album on a pleasant, ambling note. Arrangements chime, vocals sway in and out of the spotlight, and a swirling vortex of noise lifts its veil to reveal fireworks sprouting on the horizon. All this to say it’s of little importance whether you enjoy The Avalanches’ first and only outing as a brilliantly textured mosaic or simply a fun, off-kilter party record. So long as you do enjoy it. The very fact that listeners interpret the album in said manners is indicative of its versatility. Since I Left You is reflective of sound collage’s abstract nature yet faithful to pop music’s humanity. It’s huge yet intimate, challenging yet accessible, transportive yet inviting. These are trodden pastures in a world so new.

Vinh Cao

Honorable Mentions (Part 1)
Honorable Mentions (Part 2)
#50-41
#40-31
#30-21
#20-11
#10 / #9 / #8 / #7 / #6 / #4 / #3 / #2 / #1