Northern Ireland’s post-rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar stream new full-length album »Megafauna«; out now via Pelagic Records and Velocity Records!
Belfast, UK based post-rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar has just released their seventh full-length album »Megafauna« on August 9th, 2024 via Pelagic Records and Velocity Records.
Tracklist:
01. North Coast Megafauna
02. Do Mór
03. Gallery Of Honour
04. Mother Belfast (Part 1)
05. Mother Belfast (Part 2)
06. Years Ago
07. Any Joy
08. Button Days
09. Me And Dunbar
Says the band: “We released our 7th studio album, »Megafauna«. This record is for you.
Written in an old Linen Mill in East Belfast and recorded in the wilds of Donegal. It’s with great joy we hand it over to you all today, to everyone, with love.
The support you all show us across the world is something special. Sometimes it’s hard to really express how much this means to us, but know that it never goes unnoticed. Thank you to everyone who has pre ordered our record, streamed our singles, bought tickets to our shows and sent messages of support and kindness.
Now go listen to Megafauna, turn it up loud and spend 45 minutes with your 4 friends from the North Coast.
Much love,
Rory, Chris, Niall, Ewen.”
Photo by Tom McGeehan
Courtesy of Pelagic Records:
An all-encompassing aural assault, a force as unstoppable and fiercely alive as the tide. The post-rock powerhouse known as And So I Watch You From Afar have returned with their 7th studio album, »Megafauna«.
A tribute to the two places the collective call home, their beloved Portrush on the Irish North Coast and the beating heart that is Belfast; »Megafauna« is headstrong exploration and heartfelt appreciation with all the intuition, intimacy and humour of four firm friends approaching their 20th year as a band.
Like so many other bands and creatives throughout the pandemic, ASIWYFA found themselves suddenly stationary, with any plans outside of their immediate vicinity put on indefinite hold. However, where this might have seen other acts falter, ASIWYFA took comfort in their communal bond and, as soon as they were able, began writing a record that quickly became a love letter to the communities they call home. “»Megafauna« is essentially a distilled moniker for our peers,” says guitarist Rory Friers, “all of the friends and characters that we’ve grown up with who’ve made us and our homes what they are today. Lockdown was an intensely introspective and reflective process, which put the comfort of community at the forefront of our minds.”
The intent behind »Megafauna« is clear from the outset. Two guitars, bass and drums all recorded in a week erupt into effervescent life in an endorphin rush of collaboration and togetherness after the physical and psychological wilderness of isolation. Lead single »Do Mór« is a preposterously playful collision of light-hearted guitar hooks, effortless jazz syncopation and the triumphant return of ASIWYFA’s inimitable wall-of-sound distortion, whilst opening track »North Coast Megafauna« serves as an anthem for the whole album and perhaps for a band reinvigorated too; proudly wearing the joyously jarring confrontation of their sound on their sleeves.
Elsewhere on »Megafauna«, introspection and sombre sentimentality take centre stage with the downtempo »Years Ago« providing remarkable dynamic depth that speaks to a band approaching two decades together whilst the moments of calm on »Button Days« are interspersed with cacophonous blasts reminiscent of the unbridled energy on ASIWYFA’s earliest material.
»Megafauna« is the band’s first new music since 2022’s critically-acclaimed »Jettison«, an ambitious multi-media ensemble piece packed full of experimentation and collaboration. Jokingly referring to »Jettison« as the band’s “mature record”, guitarist Niall Kennedy frames the writing of »Megafauna« around the band’s long-running mantra of ‘DO THE SCARY THING’ which sees them constantly hurtling towards newness, towards progress, evolution and the unknown. Whilst the new record is ASIWYFA taking on a more familiar, traditional form; in this post-»Jettison«, post-pandemic world »Megafauna« is a deafening and defiant statement of intent from the band’s propulsive core – a clarion call for the communities that shape them, a resplendent celebration of togetherness over separation.
»Megafauna«, the new ASIWYFA album. Out August 9 via Pelagic Records & Velocity Records.
Order / stream / download here: orcd.co/asiwyfa
ASIWYFA is:
Rory Friers – Guitars, Vocals
Niall Kennedy – Guitars, Vocals
Ewen Friers – Bass, Vocals
Chris Wee – Drums, Vocals
Piano by Michael Keeney
Strings by Arco String Quartet
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well