Since I Left You - Reception

Reception

Since I Left You was issued to favourable reception, peaking in the top 30 on the ARIA Albums Chart and number 12 in Norway on the VG-lista Top 40 Albums Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2001, The Avalanches won four awards from nine nominations, including Breakthrough Artist – Album, Best Dance Release and Producer of the Year (for Chater and Seltmann aka Bobbydazzler) for Since I Left You. The fourth award win was for the related single, "Frontier Psychiatrist" as Breakthrough Artist – Single.

Seltmann and Chater did not initially think that Since I Left You would receive much attention. However, it garnered widespread critical acclaim from the music industry. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, it received an average score of 89, based on 21 reviews. It became one of the best reviewed albums of 2001. Andy Kellman of Allmusic awarded the album five stars out of five, stating that "There's little doubt to Since I Left You's status as one of the most intimate and emotional dance records that isn't vocal-based". Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle wrote a positive review, declaring " is as much of a revelation now as Primal Scream's life-changing Screamadelica was a decade ago. It's downright shocking how fun this is..." Matt LeMay of Pitchfork Media gave the album a rating of 9.5 out of ten noting that "what really makes this album brilliant is not as much the volume or quality of the samples used as the way that they're employed. The Avalanches have managed to build a totally unique context for all these sounds, while still allowing each to retain its own distinct flavor. As a result, Since I Left You sounds like nothing else". Among the less enthusiastic reviews, Tyler Martin of Stylus Magazine gave the album a B- rating, and wrote that "Many of the tracks show promise; they just don’t offer us much in the way of innovation. Despite their lack of nuance and primarily straightforward rhythmic groove, several tracks are actually quite good." Stylus later placed the album at number 16 on their list of top 50 albums from 2000 to 2005.

Since I Left You was placed in some year-end polls. Pitchfork Media placed Since I Left You at number three in their top twenty albums of 2001 poll and number 10 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s, declaring the album "a masterpiece of mood-setting that riffs off an ideal where getting on an airplane and landing in another corner of the world was the most exotic thing a person could do." The album also placed at number 11 in The Village Voice 2001 Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 2008, the Australian newspaper The Age assembled a panel of experts ranging from its own critics and music journalists to musicians, broadcasters, record shop owners and band managers to pick a list of definitive fifty Australian albums. Since I Left You was included on this list with Chris Johnston declaring the album to be "a beautiful piece of musical art made entirely from samples." Since I Left You was placed at number six on The Daily Telegraph's list of "50 most influential Australian albums ever". Resident Advisor declared it to be the seventh best album of the decade. On Slant Magazine's "Best of the Aughts" list, the album was placed at number six out of one-hundred. Reflecting on the album's reception, Chater felt it was well received because "It's light-hearted and fun to listen to and there is depth there as well. There are some sadder moments that I think has made it resonate and made it last. It does sound like a 23 year old kid in his bedroom making a record to me, but you can hear that innocence and joy in the discovery of finding all those sounds. So that was kind of infectious for people." In October 2010, it was listed at No. 10 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.