The Avalanches - Music Marketing

The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group which was formed in 1997 in Melbourne. The members Robbie Chater and Darren Seltmann are credited with there debut album Since I Left You, released in 2000 as being a staple in the plunderphonics genre. The genre is defined by music which is comprised primarily of recognisable samples to create a new piece of work. The 3rd single Since I left you serves as the first track as well as the title for the project

The music video features two miners, one younger and one older with a mustache. The use of a black/white versus a coloured reality helps distinguish between what is supposed to be interpreted as reality vs fantasy. The passage way to the dance studio is often interpreted as an imaginary sequence created by the miners as a way to accept the fact they were dying.

We can see this as one of the miners spends the majority of the video dancing with two dancers, with whom he falls in love with one, this is seen as a metaphor for him accepting death and moving on to heaven, whilst the other miner is reluctant to dance, (dance with death) and returns to being black and white. The video ends with and older man, implied to be the younger miner as he recounts being rescued saying he never saw his friend again. The video uses a mix of surrealism with light hearted humour whilst still retaining an emotional core.