Since I Left You by The Avalanches

The Avalanches Since I Left You

91
ChoruScore
6 reviews
Nov 6, 2001
Release Date
Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd.
Label

The Avalanches's Since I Left You arrives as a jubilant scrapbook of sound that critics praise for turning sampling into composition and pure pop invention. Across six professional reviews the record earned a 90.83/100 consensus score, and reviewers consistently point to the title cut “Since I Left You” along with “Frontier Psychiatrist”, “Stay Another Season” and “Electricity” as standout songs that define the album's sunlit, danceable grooves.

Reviewers celebrate the album's collage/patchwork production and its knack for genre-mashing - disco-pop, tropicalia, hip-hop and seaside nostalgia stitched together with humor and playfulness. Critics from Pitchfork and NME applaud the way mismatched samples cohere into moments of real emotional and comic payoff, while Tiny Mix Tapes and The A.V. Club emphasize the record's irresistible party energy and seamless montage flow. Across professional reviews many commentators highlight both densely layered, ecstatic tracks and quieter, glinting moments where sampled performances are allowed to breathe.

Not all perspectives are unqualified celebration. Slant notes occasional excess and a tendency toward near-manic collage, arguing the album's density can overwhelm even as it thrills. Still, the critical consensus suggests Since I Left You is worth listening to for its studio craftsmanship, clever crate-digging, and a string of best songs that make the record feel like a revelatory, emotionally resonant party set. For readers seeking an informed Since I Left You review or a guide to the best songs on the record, these professional reviews map both the highs and the few moments where invention threatens to overreach.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Radio

1 mention

""Radio," which is slated for release as the band's next Australian single, centers around a mantra-like vocal sample"
Pitchfork
2

Since I Left You

6 mentions

"The album-opening title track is a pastiche of weightless shimmer"
The A.V. Club
3

Stay Another Season

4 mentions

"The blissed-out breeze picks up the guitar line from Madonna's "Holiday" on "Stay Another Season,""
The A.V. Club
"Radio," which is slated for release as the band's next Australian single, centers around a mantra-like vocal sample
P
Pitchfork
about "Radio"
Read full review
1 mention
93% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Since I Left You

6 mentions
100
04:22
2

Stay Another Season

4 mentions
100
02:19
3

Radio

1 mention
100
04:21
4

Two Hearts In 3/4 Time

3 mentions
70
03:24
5

Avalanche Rock

1 mention
71
00:22
6

Flight Tonight

3 mentions
93
03:52
7

Close To You

3 mentions
98
03:56
8

Diners Only

1 mention
5
01:34
9

A Different Feeling

5 mentions
100
04:22
10

Electricity

3 mentions
100
03:29
11

Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life

3 mentions
74
02:20
12

Pablo's Cruise

1 mention
64
00:52
13

Frontier Psychiatrist

5 mentions
100
04:47
14

ETOH

0 mentions
05:03
15

Summer Crane

0 mentions
04:39
16

Little Journey

2 mentions
24
01:36
17

Live At Dominoes

2 mentions
21
05:38
18

Extra Kings

2 mentions
59
03:42
19

Since I Left You - Cornelius Remix

0 mentions
05:35
20

Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life - Edan Remix

0 mentions
03:53
21

Frontier Psychiatrist - Mario Caldato Jr's 85% Remix

0 mentions
04:04
22

Close To You - Sun Araw Remix

0 mentions
06:10
23

Since I Left You - Stereolab Remix

0 mentions
04:36
24

Flight Tonight - Canyons Travel Agent Dub

0 mentions
06:00
25

Radio - Sinkane Remix

0 mentions
08:33
26

Since I Left You - Prince Paul Remix

0 mentions
03:48
27

Electricity - Harvey's Nightclub Re-Edit

0 mentions
06:30
28

Summer Crane - Black Dice Remix

0 mentions
03:38
29

Extra Kings - Deakin Remix

0 mentions
04:42
30

Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life - MF DOOM Remix

0 mentions
02:54
31

Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life - Dragged By Leon Vynehall

0 mentions
05:24
32

A Different Feeling - Carl Craig's Paperclip People Remix

0 mentions
10:37
33

Thank You Caroline - Original Avalanches Demo Tape

0 mentions
04:11

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 17 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

The Avalanches make Since I Left You feel like an unapologetic party-starter, and the best songs - “Since I Left You” and “Stay Another Season” - do exactly that, hauling you off the couch. The reviewer revels in the dizzying sample collage and the way moments keep revealing themselves, calling the album a brilliant collage that never wears thin. Praise is effusive and vivid, insisting that the record's grooves and surprises keep giving long after first listen. If you search for the best tracks on Since I Left You, start with those opener moments that set the tone and then let the rest of the album keep you moving.

Key Points

  • The opener “Since I Left You” is best because it establishes the album's dazzling sample collage and irresistible groove.
  • The album's core strength is its dense, tasteful use of hundreds of samples to create endlessly discoverable, danceable songs.

Themes

sampling collage danceable grooves playfulness emotional undercurrent

Critic's Take

The Avalanches craft a jubilant, meticulously funny collage on Since I Left You, and the best songs - notably “Frontier Psychiatrist” and “A Different Feeling” - show precisely why. LeMay revels in how mismatched sounds become coherent, praising the way “Radio” centers around a mantra-like vocal and a thick disco bassline while “A Different Feeling” wedges 1974 horn blasts against 1988 video-game bleeps. The writing highlights the album's humor and surprise, with “Frontier Psychiatrist” called out as one of the funniest songs in ages. Ultimately the record is lauded as both party-friendly and emotionally resonant, its samples turned into something alive and uniquely cohesive.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Frontier Psychiatrist," is the standout for its inventive, hilarious use of many spoken-word samples and memorable scratches.
  • The album's core strength is transforming hundreds of disparate samples into a seamless, emotionally rich party record.

Themes

sampling as composition humor and playfulness seamless montage/flow nostalgia and collage

Critic's Take

The Avalanches make a dizzy, sample-stuffed hour on Since I Left You, where the best tracks — “Two Hearts in 3/4 Time” and “Diners Only” — showcase the band’s loop-happy excess and near-manic creativity. Sal Cinquemani’s tone is equal parts amused and wary: he praises quieter cuts like “Since I Left You” and “Tonight” for letting sampled performances glisten, even as denser pieces threaten delirium. For listeners asking “best songs on Since I Left You,” the review points to those contrasts: the standout immediacy of the frantic samplers and the surprising tenderness of the album's calmer moments. The assessment balances affection for the album’s imagination with a caution about its potential to overwhelm.

Key Points

  • The best song(s) balance manic sample-collage with moments where samples are allowed to glisten.
  • The album's core strength is its dense, imaginative sampling that alternates between dizzying excess and surprising tenderness.

Themes

sampling collage retro pop culture splices dense production vs. quieter moments dance vs. outsider listening

Critic's Take

The Avalanches's Since I Left You is presented here as maybe the best sample record ever made, and the reviewer locks onto the title track and “Stay Another Season” as emblematic high points. The piece praises the album-opening title track as a pastiche of weightless shimmer, noting a lazy day's disco groove, and singles out “Stay Another Season” for its blissed-out breeze and Madonna guitar lift. The review likewise highlights the seaside charm of “Two Hearts In 3/4 Time” and the turntablist flash of “Frontier Psychiatrist” to explain why these are the best tracks on Since I Left You, all while stressing the album's obsessive, giddy collage-making. Overall the tone is celebratory and exacting, emphasizing craft and joyous recombination more than conventional dancefloor utility.

Key Points

  • The title track's shimmering pastiche and disco groove make it the album's defining high point.
  • The album's core strength is its obsessive, giddy collage-making that recombines diverse samples into a joyful whole.

Themes

sampling and crate-digging collage/patchwork production nostalgia and seaside pop genre-blending (dance, hip-hop, tropicalia)

Critic's Take

In a sunburnt, ecstatic way Christian Ward repeatedly crowns The Avalanches and their Since I Left You as a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, singling out “Since I Left You” and “A Different Feeling” as moments of sublime filtered disco-pop. He leavens giddy praise with sly comparisons to Daft Punk, arguing the title track feels at home in a '50s musical while “A Different Feeling” matches the French duo's best work. The review keeps a wry, slightly nerdy tone - admiring the record's joyful sampling and the triumphant final 15 minutes of disco-soul drama. Read as a guide to the best songs on Since I Left You, the piece steers you toward those standout tracks precisely because they encapsulate the album's irreverent, bittersweet pop alchemy.

Key Points

  • The title track is best because it encapsulates the album's joyous, musical-theatre sheen and sampling craft.
  • The album's core strengths are ecstatic, inventive sampling and a sun-kissed disco-pop flow that mashes genres into cohesive drama.

Themes

sampling collage nostalgia disco-pop travel genre-mashing

Critic's Take

In a voice equal parts giddy and analytical, The Avalanches's Since I Left You is celebrated for its joyous, sample-warped highs, with the title track and “Frontier Psychiatrist” singled out as the album's best songs. The review delights in how “Since I Left You” unfurls ‘‘light-hearted flutes and tropical guitars’’ into an infectiously catchy pastiche, while “Frontier Psychiatrist” turns found dialogue into kooky, fresh songwriting. The critic praises the record's nonstop inventiveness and party-ready moments like “Close to You” and “Electricity”, arguing these best tracks make the album a genuinely entertaining, dancefloor-minded masterpiece.

Key Points

  • The title track is best for its irresistible, cohesive charm and catchy vocal loop.
  • The album's core strengths are inventive sample collage, playful production, and consistent dancefloor-friendly sequencing.

Themes

sample-based collage dancefloor eclecticism nostalgia playfulness studio craftsmanship vs spontaneity