Belfast's
And So I Watch You from Afar play a form of grandiose, tuneful instrumental rock that celebrates life and exuberantly embraces the future. Their songs are aggressive and amped-up, but they aren't angry, and they aren't sad or brooding either. They're emotionally heavy and dramatic, and undoubtedly overwhelmed by all of the pressures of the world, but overall, the band's music is unabashedly hopeful and triumphant. They also value immediacy -- even when the songs stretch out to seven minutes, they're not spending several minutes trying to build up an atmosphere before the heavy part kicks in. They just get right to it, and if you're not ready, well, go listen to a different post-rock band. While past
ASIWYFA albums featured a distinct presence of choral vocals, they're nearly absent on this one, which proves to be a good thing, as they were often distracting on the group's previous efforts. They're also unnecessary, as this music is still highly accessible without them. The band's compositions are knotty and complex without being willfully obtuse, and the production is punchy enough that these songs could actually get played on commercial radio, if mainstream radio had a place for instrumental rock other than as beds for mike breaks or advertisements. The drums have a startling slap to them, and the guitars churn melodically, with momentary breaks of high-pitched ringing before plunging back into the epic thrashing, such as on opener "Three Triangles." The group doesn't just stick to an aggressive crunch, however. There are moments of reflection, and a few passages with strings, or melodic chimes. Even when
ASIWYFA back off from the heaviness, they aren't slowing down or losing energy, and these less ecstatic moments don't dull the music's impact. As one could probably predict, the bandmembers love big, dramatic endings, and "Chrysalism" wastes no time concluding the album in such a manner.
The Endless Shimmering displays
ASIWYFA's unrelenting optimism, and demonstrates their mastery of their singular brand of math-grunge. ~ Paul Simpson