The High Plains Drifters ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ (Official Music Video) 

In their latest single, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’, the High Plains Drifters get right to the realest painful stuff. Evoking the likes of Depeche Mode, and The Smiths, lyrics such as “so since you’ve been gone, I lie and I say we’re still okay” are dark and visceral, and quite frankly, rather resonant.

With a retro-futuristic intro, icy synths, gorgeous melodies, and an earworm rhythm, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ goes from simply relatable to downright delicious. There’s a quality about ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ that’s very rare in modern music, but it was quite prevalent in the 80s – one that somehow manages at the same time to be a really sad song but one you’re always overjoyed to hear.

The video below for ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ inhabits both the far reaches of outer space and the imagination of a child, while being a representation of the greatest mystery of all: love. A young boy dreams of space, both awake and asleep, and is visited by a celestial being. Reminiscent of the Illia clone from ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’, she is distant, almost mystical, from a race of aliens who seem to have not yet invented clothing. True to the song’s subject, she is always moving away from the camera, taunting the viewer. The video is bookended with the boy, in a spacesuit, walking the shores and forests of a planet very much like Earth – is he still dreaming? Does the woman fleeing down geometric neon passages await him in his distant future? ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ is another great discovery for fans of bands unafraid to go new places.

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