Classifying the four-piece And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA) is difficult as they don’t fit neatly into well-trodden instrumental rock traditions. Their riffing is not obtuse enough to be ‘math rock’, and far too much fun to be ‘post rock’. Effect pedals bring a wealth of texture to their longer numbers, but they do not shoegaze, preferring instead to quickly stomp on a few whacky pedals, sound like Donald Duck in a tumble-dryer for 5 or so seconds, and stomp back. The duelling lead guitars could be mistaken for face-melting arena rock, but rather than soloing, they’re mostly in the business of crafting catchy riffs that mosh pits can sing along to (and, in my experience, they do). Perhaps the band is best understood through their rhythm section: the bass and drums are simply ferocious and playful. ASIWYFA have practised their much-celebrated formula for over ten years, occasionally experimenting with gang vocals, trumpets, and songs anywhere between one and ten minutes long. Their newest release, Jettison, sees the band at their most ambitious.
If the idea of an album being a single 39-minute track gives you pause – firstly, my condolences – and secondly, fret not! Whilst envisaged as a single suite, “Jettison” is also split into nine accessible chunks that stand well on their own. In a possibly ostentatious move, the band enlists the Arco String Quartet to add additional texture and momentum throughout the suite. These strings do not simply decorate – much of the time, the strings are the punchline, entering when a passage reaches its summit, such as on “V Hold”, or bolstering the distorted guitar leads on “VI Submerge”. Two of the tracks are string-focused pieces that bookend the record, but through its run time, the strings are not over-used, as the band drives the action and dominates the mix. Several spoken word passages, contributed by Clutch‘s Neil Fallon and Emma Ruth Rundle, act as sporadic signposts during the record’s more pensive first half (and – spoilers – very briefly at the end). They might take you out of your listening experience the first few times due to how infrequently they appear, but on repeated listens they reinforce the record’s upbeat, hopeful tone.
All this change could make for a complete revolution of ASIWYFA‘s sound, but the album is unmistakably, bombastically their own. In particular, the latter movements “VI Submerge“, “VII Emerge“, and “VIII Jettison” build an intense self-contained suite that is both catchy and complex. “VI Submerge” starts slowly, building towards a string-backed blast beat which absolutely crushes the mix. This cacophony gives way to an exchange of brash guitar solos in ASIWYFA’s trademark style. “VII Emerge” is the most straightforward two minutes of the piece with happy, noodly, stop-start riffs that ask you to stamp your feet. Title track “VII Jettison” turns up the volume even further before the album ebbs away through the throes of the string quartet on “XI A.D. Poet“. The high-volume moments seem to completely consume the entire frequency spectrum, which can leave the high frequencies muddy and may not be to all listener’s tastes.
Whilst the album has its fair share of trademark ASIWYFA intensity, it’s Jettison‘s focus on the low and medium volume moments that breaks new ground for the band. Never have they crafted pieces as gradual as “II Dive Pt 2“, where walls of droning feedback and strings gently lead listeners into their world. “IV In Air” is the best showcase of what the album is about, where at its height, both the band and strings quartet jam intensely, but not so intensely as to steal the thunder from the album’s second half. “V Hold” acts as a multi-faceted breather that keeps you guessing as to whether the band is about to erupt or play a lullaby.
The potentially ominous ’39-minute song’ approach does not feel heavy handed. Bridging the tracks are whooshing interludes that feel natural. Other transitions are sudden turns that feel like a wooden roller-coaster cranking into its downward spiral. The piece also avoids overusing gimmicky leitmotifs, or at least, between all my listens I couldn’t discern any recurring themes – shame on me if I missed a key one or two. Despite the seemingly monolithic approach taken by the album, it’s likely to be one of their most accessible yet, thanks to the dynamic range on offer and its shorter total run time. The band have already performed the album as an audio-visual experience with the Arco String Quartet, so Jettison’s odd structure is far from theoretical. Its development is surely influenced by The Ongoing Circumstances – even the album artwork resembles a pair of stone lungs – which makes its glittering positivity all the more poignant. It’s a unique, rewarding, and dynamic album that celebrates all that And So I Watch You From Afar have already perfected.
9/10