A direct antithesis to the proposition that post rock is a genre reserved for those aloof, apathetic and just a generally a little bit insufferable, the Northern Irish quartet present a take on a genre that’s euphoric and alive. It’s instrumental rock to pit to, dance to, and most importantly, feel a connection to. It’s this connection, that has allowed And So I Watch You From Afar to become more or less de facto figureheads of the UK post rock scene. Yes, they might not have the massive stature of Mogwai or so, but it’s this almost pliable connection running through their craft that makes them such icons. Their latest record Megafauna is an embodiment of this.
Released earlier this year via Pelagic Records, Megafauna is essentially what it says on the tin. A gurt stomping record, it’s impossible not to feel the massive heart of the album beating across its run time. Motifs of joy, tenderness, sentimentalism and nostalgia run through its bloodstream, odes to the power of gentle embraces and giddy roughhousing are enlivened through its delicate ambience and distorted riffs. It may be purely instrumental, but it’s a record of emotion, bound by human hands and a love for connection, a collective body of work paying homage to the people and places the band call home. But as the band, explain, it was recorded in a time where such connection was off limits.
“I suppose while we were writing it, which was in lockdown, I think those are the things we became really sort of conscious or mindful of,” states guitarist Rory Friers during a chat at ArcTanGent Festival this summer. “We weren’t spending time with groups of people, our peers and friends and family that you’re used to spending time with. That really created a sense of appreciation for those people and those places. When we were writing [the album], those were the kind of places that were in our mind’s eye. We just wanted to pay a bit of a tribute to how much those places, and more importantly the people within them, mean to us. It was a way to sort be spending with those people in your thoughts, creating a closeness that couldn’t be there.”
“It was written in a real time of uncertainty, where we didn’t know when we’d be getting out on the road again or seeing people that we’ve met and friends we’ve made across the world”, continues drummer and percussionist Chris Wee. “That was a big part of it as well. We were all thinking, will anybody be able to ever hear this live?”
Thankfully, for both fans and the band, people did. At ArcTanGent this year, ASIWYFA played Megafuna in full just days after its official release to a full main stage. Those there that day will no doubt tell you with glee how it went down; it felt like a reunion between friends, one massive throng of fans forming a collective and a band of creatives creating out of love for those around them. It was one of those ‘you had to be there’ sets, one that will no doubt be chatted, and most probably bragged about, for years to come. But this community didn’t form overnight. Fans of this festival where this interview took place will know ASIWYFA have a long history with both ArcTanGent and its sister festival 2000 Trees. In fact, it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to state the band’s history and the history of these festivals are intertwined. After all, the band sub-headlined the first edition of ArcTanGent over a decade ago. As both detail, it’s this history that has allowed the community not just be between fans and the band, but one that includes these festivals too.
“We played the very first year. We played 2000 Trees before that, that’s where we met James (Scarlett, festival promoter) originally, and then they started this festival. It”s just been lovely. It’s been less of a promoter and band relationship and more of a friendship”, states Chris, before Rory continues. “When we first played here, it was maybe 2500 people, and the type of music that we and the other bands were playing, there’s some sort of a connective line between all the bands here. It’s something that ArcTanGent has always been great at doing. Everybody sounds different, but everybody’s the same at the same time. There’s a soul to it, a community sense. And I think that even from the first (ArcTanGent), you felt like, oh hold on, there’s this space for this community to be. We’d always felt like complete outliers and a completely weird band that never really fit in anywhere. So to be connected with this festival and this community as it’s grown, we’ve definitely grown with it. The people who come to this festival are a special bunch.”
“You know, Megafauna is a reference to the huge personalities around us that have supported us and made the band, continues Rory. “That initially was attributed to our friends and the places that we we grew up in. But we love the idea of Megafauna being something that has expanded to a kind of tribute to all those friendships. That really is always what is at the heart of what we try and cultivate in our live performance, in the music we make, and in any of the interactions with the community of people around the band. it’s more of a friendship group, rather than just a band and their fan base.”
With a community like this, and a connection like this, as aforementioned, it’s difficult to name or envision a band more fitting to represent the UK post rock scene as a whole. Unlike the majority of acts in this genre and scene, who often to play static to a mirrored crowd, this community is always represented physically at ASIWYFA’s sets. It’s a collective experience for everyone involved, one full of energy, playful pits and one, two or twenty going over the barrier or onto the stage. And much like And So I Watch You From Afar’s two sets at ArcTanGent this year, their tour next month with Delta Sleep and Paranoid Void, will much likely be the same. “We seem to get all the credit for that”, says Rory, “but it’s an energy exchange. It’s mutual. It’s all the people in the crowd that make the atmosphere. You know, we’re in awe as much as all of you.”
Megafauna is now out via Pelagic Records. Purchase the record here. And So I Watch You From Afar will be touring with Delta Sleep and Paranoid Void next month – find tickets here.