And So I Watch You from Afar

The Belfast-based instrumental quartet And So I Watch You from Afar draws frequent comparisons to post-rock and math rock yet sets itself apart through a level of force and self-assurance rarely found in either style. Elements of raw, passionate '80s hardcore combine with the showmanship and dramatic presence associated with arena metal, producing a sound that resists easy categorization while remaining immediately energizing. Their debut album appeared in 2009 under the band's own name, after which 2011's Gangs climbed to number 28 on the Irish album chart. Further evolution followed with the introduction of vocals on 2015's Heirs and the creation of the expansive multimedia work Jettison, issued in 2022. By contrast, the more direct Megafauna surfaced in 2024.

Late 2005 saw the group's formation in rural County Derry, Northern Ireland. Guitarists Rory Friers (aka Bone Crusher) and Tony Wright (aka Face Eater), along with drummer Chris Wee (aka Blood Gargler), had previously played together in Zombie Safari Park and carried on as a unit after its breakup. Bassist Johnny Adger (aka Gut Slurper), whose prior band Pepperbook had included Wright, joined the lineup. The four relocated to Belfast and soon established a strong local audience. In October 2007 they joined Driving by Night, LaFaro, Cruz, and Fighting with Wire's Cahir O'Doherty to create the shared EP Tonight the City Burns, which debuted via a multi-band performance in the city.

Toward the end of 2007 the musicians entered the studio with producer Bo Sheppard to cut the split single pairing "I Capture Castles" with "The Voiceless." Three further tracks emerged from the sessions, resulting in the self-released EP This Is Our Machine and Nothing Can Stop It, issued in April and later picked up by Forte Music Distribution for a March 2008 reissue. The pressing sold out inside six weeks, enabling tours of the U.K. alongside Maybeshewill and This Town Needs Guns plus Irish dates with Adebisi Shank.

Recording of the first full-length began in April 2008 and wrapped by July. The Derry/London independent label Smalltown America handled its release. In early April 2009 the band issued the split single "A Little Solidarity Goes a Long Way" backed with "Set Your Guitars to Kill," followed a week later by the self-titled debut album. Two years afterward came the sophomore effort Gangs, produced by Oppenheimer's Rocky O'Reilly and marking their initial chart entry at number 28 in Ireland. The 2013 album All Hail Bright Futures arrived as the first without founding member Wright and the first to feature guitarist Niall Kennedy. Heirs, released in May 2015, introduced wordless vocals from the group itself along with lyrics by Ewen Friers on the track "Redesigned a Million Times." The fifth album, The Endless Shimmering, followed in 2017 after sessions at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Successors, a three-song EP, appeared in 2020. Jettison arrived two years later as a semi-symphonic piece whose arrangements, supplied by Connor O'Boyle, were performed by the Arco String Quartet and included spoken-word contributions from Emma Ruth Rundle and Neil Fallon. Ewen Friers assumed the role of full-time bassist, and 2024 brought Megafauna, a return to the band's established approach.