And So I Watch You From Afar performing their track 7 Billion People Alive All At Once with The Ulster Orchestra at Ulster Hall in Belfast, Ireland on May 21, 2012 - Video taken from a live stream from the BBC.

Released in 2011, “Gangs” caused quite a stir. It’s one of those records that got played a lot by people who don’t normally listen to instrumental music as well as those who live off the stuff. The verdict was overwhelmingly one of being knocked down by the explosion of sound – mainly the distorted, metallic, atonal riff-fest found on a few tracks. While the word “eponymous” is generally used to mean “self-titled” in describing records, it the case of their 2009 debut it also took the meaning of the band giving their name to a sound. The consensus in 2011 was that these guys remain innovators rather than followers.

Looking back on it I understand the excitement but on listening again some months on and alongside other great releases of 2011-12, some of the cracks are a little wider. For example, I find some of the repetition of the squealing riffs continues too long in parts. It’s a great sound but a little annoying in the end. Regardless, the niggles simply see me rating this an eight and a half when it would probably have scored a nine or more the first times I heard it.

One of the most noticeable aspects of “Gangs” is how tightly And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA) play, with an instinct that only comes from putting in the hard work. All reports I’ve had tell me this is a quartet that knows how to play live and it’s evident in their recorded work.

Read More

The Northern Irish quartet arrived on a wave of confidence and unity, but after a year peppered with international acclaim and broken bones they lost their founding guitarist. Kiran Acharya spoke to the band about the recording of second album Gangs

I’d finally settled on a functional introduction the whole story changed. Tony Wright left the band, replaced by Panama Kings guitarist Niall Kennedy. Despite this, And So I Watch You From Afar’s second album Gangs would still be released in the USA by Sargent House, home to Russian Circles, Hella and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. And Wright, rolling solo, was already performing as VerseChorusVerse, teaming up to tour the UK with Jonah Matranga, previously of Far. 

Then Wright rejoined And So I Watch You for a single performance at the Ulster Hall in Belfast. It was a final farewell and also a celebration because they’d just been named Best Live Act in the first Northern Irish Music Awards.

Read More

Ireland’ s Choice Music Prize announced today their Short List of Nominations for 2012. Congratulations to  And So I Watch You From Afar who were nominated for their album Gangs.

And the nominees are -

And So I Watch You From Afar – Gangs (Richter Collective / Sargent House)
Bell X1 – Bloodless Coup (Belly Up Records)
Cashier No 9 – To The Death of Fun (Bella Union)
Lisa Hannigan - Passenger (Hoop)
The Japanese Popstars – Controlling Your Allegiance (EMI)
Jape – Ocean of Frequency (Music Is For Losers)
Patrick Kelleher & His Cold Dead Hands – Golden Syrup (Osaka Records)
Pugwash – The Olympus Sounds (EMI/1969 Records)
Tieranniesaur – Tieranniesaur (Popical Island)
We Cut Corners – Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards (Delphi)

(Source: asiwyfash)

2011 has been a banner year for post-rock. Two of the year’s finest releases, Mogwai’s Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will and Russian Circles’ Empros, are some of the strongest releases the genre has seen in awhile. Those records are particularly refreshing given that some bands tend to stagnate after awhile in the post-rock formula of crescendo and decrescendo. Even some of the genre’s most noteworthy groups (Explosions in the Sky, for example) are now only recently escaping from the rut of repetition, which they did with this year’s release Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. 2011 has proved that the creative engines in this genre are still running, which bodes well for many of the lesser-known outfits to rise up and plant their stake firm as genre innovators.

Irish instrumentalists And So I Watch You From Afar might just be doing that here. Ever since their eponymous debut, the band have distanced themselves from post-rock’s follies, most successfully by incorporating math-metal tendencies into their complex songs. Tricky riffs, perplexing melodies, and time signature changes that rival The Dillinger Escape Plan all add quite nicely to the band’s distinctive sound. All of those elements are especially present on Gangs, which is by no means a sophomore slump. The record is relentless from beginning to end (made evident by the urgent all-caps on the album opener “BEAUTIFULUNIVERSEMASTERCHAMPION”), and it is one hell of a ride.

Read More

#4 And So I Watch You From Afar- Gangs

OH MY GOD WE WON THE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP AND THE LOTTERY AND WE’RE SPENDING THE LOTTERY MONEY ON A FUCKING ROCKET SHIP AND WE’RE GONNA GO CARVE A HUGE DICK ON THE MOON WITH A GIANT LASER WE PUT ON THE ROCKET SHIP AND ALL OF OUR PETS HAVE BECOME IMMORTAL AND WE JUST MADE OUT WITH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON WE’VE EVER MET AND IT TURNS OUT THEIR MOM IS REALLY REALLY NICE TOO AND THIS COFFEE WE’RE DRINKING IS FUCKING DELICIOUS I THINK IT’S THAT STUFF THAT CIVET CATS POOP OUT AND IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY PARTY AND EVERYONE IS INVITED AND NOBODY WILL EVER BE MEAN TO ANYBODY ELSE EVER AGAIN is pretty much what this album sounds like. - Jeph Jacques

Originally released in Ireland and Europe earlier this year, Gangs, the second release from the honest, hard working Northern Irish post rock band And So I Watch You From Afar recently received a much deserved North American gong through Sargent House taking the then quartet’s music to a much wider audience. Following up their heavy sounding self titled debut with an equally muscular album, albeit with more melodic sensibility, the individual virtuosity from the band is well and truly on display here as Roy Friers and the now departed Tony Wright throw out inventive twin guitar attacks ably assisted by a tight as a drum rhythm section of Johnathon Adger (bass) and Chris Wee (drums). None of the eight tracks rest on their laurels at any time as the arrangements are just as meticulous as the technical aspects of their music. Gangs marks a departure of sorts sonically and personnel wise for the band and is the last album with founding guitarist Tony Wright who recently left just before their just completed marathon tour of Europe. The fact that the band completed that tour and were as impressive as ever with touring guitarist Niall Kennedy (ex Panama Kings), if their Berlin show was any indication, not missing a beat, suggests that despite Wright’s decision And So I Watch You From Afar will continue to go from strength to strength.

Read More

And So I Watch You From Afar - Gangs
Sargent House / Richter Collective (Ireland)
USA Street: 11.08.11

ASIWYFA = Fugazi + Russian Circles + Caspian

You try to start attaching too many sub-genre tags to an original band, and you put a little too much shit with the steak. Let’s be clear, Gangs is huge. Gangs is hypnotic. Gangs is breathtaking. A monolithic juggernaut pieced together between festival appearances, it’s a dualistic record, the genius of which lies in its ability to occupy two spheres: hard to place and instantly enjoyable. Indie, metal, electronic, dub and anything with a “post” prefix comes to mind, but it’s best not to get bogged down in all that blogger nonsense. Circuitous riffing, bombastic rhythms and the occasional choral detour coalesce into one rockin’ slab of cerebral aggression. Don’t misunderstand me, this ain’t sludge and it never crawls. Hyperfast on its feet, incorporating erratic blends of African percussion and Asian ambiance, constantly flitting between massive and more massive, never sacrificing melody or texture, it’s a document of belligerent beauty from one of this era’s pre-eminent instrumental trios. –Dylan Chadwick

In A Word: Spectacular


Northern Ireland’s instrumental math rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar are back with their second studio album, Gangs. Right from the start the bouncy yet powerful guitar riffs in “BEAUTIFULUNIVERSEMASTERCHAMPION” amps up the album’s energy. With noisy, and grungy guitars matched with heart-racing drums “Gang (Starting Never Stopping) picks up where the first track left off to ensure the sugar rush doesn’t stop. During “Search:Party:Animal” a sense of paranoia is brought out by the booming drums and menacing sirens.

In contrast to the third piece, “7 Billion People All Alive At Once” is a carefree tune with fun vocals, a funkalicious bass groove and whimsical melodies. Overall, this composition is easy to get down to. Robotic guitars and a Celtic tribute can be found in “Think:Breathe:Destroy,” one of the semi-weak spots on Gangs. This tune lacks the spark that the others pushed forth. With drums that mimic the sound of someone running, the chaos continues with “Homes- …Samara To Belfast.” Despite ending in a soft lull, the intense start and stop pacing of the instruments adds an effect that sounds like punches are being thrown in different directions and aids in making the seventh song one of the standout pieces on the album. Clanking drum sticks count off the eighth and final cut, “LifeProof.” The final song has a much stronger classic post-rock sound to it, and ends on an explosive note with the sounds of trashcans being banged on.

Read More

And So I Watch You From Afar
Gangs

Instrumental music is a delicate art, and one that is perhaps not given the attention it deserves in rock, where the concept of a front man is so alluring. There’s something to be said for the aura of the Robert Plants of today, but it’s far too easy to back up the argument that any artist without a vocalist doesn’t have the cultural appeal to make it big.

Instrumental music‘s presence is most recognized under the monumental umbrella of “rock music” within the post-rock genre that, while not necessarily instrumental, seeks out more formless, ambient melodies and is often better heard without vocal accompaniment.

Many post-rock bands do bring a healthy dose of rock and roll insanity to their music; bands like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky certainly feature enough riffing and the kind of song structure that you could claim that this is rock. But ever since Sigur Rós set the standard for post-rock and ambient music with 1999’s Ágætis Byrjun, the definition of the genre has changed. Artists sought to portray beauty and nostalgia over carnal energy, and while that’s in no way a bad thing, I don’t think I’d be out of line in asserting that most post-rock isn’t rock music at all.

I recently came across And So I Watch You From Afar, a band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is an instrumental rock band. But it doesn’t play ambient or post-rock music. It plays rock; face-melting, riff-rifling, drum-pounding rock.

Read More

Expanding Minds Without A Word

Belfast trio And So I Watch You From Afar’s post-rock deserves respect from fans of uncompromising and intellectually challenging music. But it may also grab the ears of a few listeners who had previously clung to the verse-chorus-verse shallows, in particular because it doesn’t cling to the expected tropes of its own micro-genre.

The group draws on rock’s brainiest movements — prog, math rock, and post-hardcore — but you don’t need a degree in music theory to enjoy their sophomore album Gangs. On the follow up to 2009′s self-titled debut, they switch time signatures with the best of them, but they switch between recognizable rhythms — from a rock beat to, say, a waltz with a charming wink. Certain rhythms and tonal progressions even seem teasingly inspired by their Celtic roots. Moves like this allow them to be at once highly complex, strikingly muscular, and upliftingly melodic, especially on the mind-expanding first track “BEAUTIFULUNIVERSEMASTERCHAMPION.”

Read More

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.

And So I Watch You from Afar
Gangs (Sargent House / Richter Collective)

Stream: And So I Watch You from Afar: “Beautiful Universe Master Champion”

In March, the peerless Sargent House label gave American listeners a much-needed introduction to Adebisi Shank, an Irish instrumental trio that merges raging guitar harmonies with spasmodic electronics. Now Sargent House is at it again with Richter Collective, the DIY Irish label that counts Adebisi Shank’s drummer Mick Roe as a co-founder, to provide American distribution for the sophomore release of And So I Watch You from Afar, a Belfast-based trio of mathy post-rockers from Northern Ireland.

Based on the other side of the Emerald Isle, And So I Watch You from Afar has a similar MO to Adebisi and sonic brethren such as Don Caballero, The Advantage, and Maps & Atlases. And like Don Cab, the band excels with a heavier rhythmic quality thanks to single-octave riffs, deep bass grooves, and mid-tempo breakdowns. At times, it seethes with a punk ferocity, but at others, it’s content to charm listeners with clean-channel harmonies and wordless choruses (such as on the buoyant and glistening “7 Billion People All Alive at Once”).

Read More

Belfast, Ireland’s celebrated instrumental band And So I Watch You From Afar release their sophomore album, Gangs today via Sargent House, partnered with Dublin label Richter Collective. The complete album is available for streaming all week courtesy of Spinner: listen HERE.

“This is the sound of a gang who’ve never been tighter, and a postcard of their journey that couldn’t have captured them at a higher peak.”
9 out of 10 - Drowned In Sound

“An utterly immersive tour de force and a series of thrills as transient as the breeze, ‘Gangs’ triumphs on every possible level. ” 9 out of 10 - Rock Sound

Known for their unrelenting tours that has seen them play over 300 shows since the start of 2009, And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA to their fans) don’t know how to take a break. From appearances at SXSW, Eurosonic, Electric Picnic, Novarock, Canadian Music Fest, Popkomm, Pukkelpop, Sonisphere, to tour dates in Europe, North America, Russia and a support slot for rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, the band has been on the road playing music non-stop since the release of their fan-stirring debut self-titled album.

Read More