“Since I left you
I found the world so new”

This week we’re taking a look at the music video for The Avalanches’ 2001 gem “Since I Left You”. Directd by Rob Leggatt and Leigh Marling, the heartwarming yet somewhat bittersweet clip opens with two miners trapped  in a confined black and white world. Above, the muffled sound of joyous music is playing and in attempts to find out where this enticing sound is coming from the miners uncover a new world, a world of colour.  Paradise. Oddly, paradise is a dance studio in which two ballerinas are seen auditioning in front of two judges. Transfixed, one of the miners joins the ballerinas and begins to awkwardly dance in front of the judges. Impressed with his willingness to let go and be free, the dancers take his hand and teach him a few moves which he picks up with ease. All the while his fellow miner looks on from the edge of the room too scared to join in, only mustering up the courage to play the tambourine. As the clip progresses the miner no longer needs the aid of the ballerinas and fully lets loose. Winning the approval of the judges, passing the test. Unfortunately, his reluctant friend failed and begins to turn back to black and white. Engulfed in bright white light the accepted miner fades away. Did he die? Was this an audition for heaven? Or did he simply run off with his new friend to enjoy a new life together. A life no longer ridden with inhibitions. Either way, wherever “Arthur”, as it is later revealed has gone, “he’s having a damn good time”.