Impose Magazine Review: And So I Watch You From Afar ‘s Gangs
It’s a safe assumption going in that this is some kind of “anti-concept” album. The second full-length from ASIWYFA presents its songs in a thoroughly confusing manner, in part due to the band dumping 22 songs written over the course of a year following the first album. They proceeded to record Gangs in two months with new material- talk about heading from one extreme to another. At eight songs, it’s sub divided into two parts, with the first five listed together and the last three separated under the unusual heading “Homes: Ghost Parlor KA-6 to Samara to Belfast.” Big, loud, not unfriendly guitars come bounding in on the shoulders of “BEAUTIFULUNIVERSEMASTERCHAMPION,” and we’re off to a promising start. Once they hit their stride they’re moving from post-rock-isms to math rock before you can say, “New Jersey turnpike.” From jaunty to frantic and all points in between, from the sticky, blistery “Search: Party: Animal” to the more thoughtful and consequential “7 Billion People all Alive at Once.” There’s a load of Hum/ Smashing Pumpkins-era distorted guitar splooge, and it’s a pleasure to hear such shenanigans again. They end it all on a high note with the very strong “Lifeproof,” and they encompass so much of the musical landscape at times I would venture to call it “jam band math-rock.” You could even turn your Primus, Phish and Widespread Panic friends on to it. Well, okay, maybe not your Widespread Panic friends.
