Oozing with raw, euphoric energy, And So I Watch You From Afar have accomplished more than they could ever have expected in the band's ten years. From playing local shows in Atlantic Bar on the North coast of Ireland to touring Japan, they've enjoyed unexpected success for a group that plays what they describe as "weird music".
ASIWYFA’s sound has explored the avenues of post-rock and filled every crack with something refreshing while always remaining true to themselves since their debut, self-titled album. Since then they’ve created a seemingly unstoppable momentum, creating a new music scene not only in Belfast but all around the world. This brings the quartet to the release of their fifth album, ‘The Endless Shimmering’ and a 23-date European tour with only three rest days booked in to rest. “It was four and now it’s three because a gig got put back on,” guitarist Niall Kennedy tells me as we sit in the corner of Bar Rufían, a minimalist street bar you’d typically find near Sala Apolo where the band is due to headline AMFest later on.
Having only arrived in the city a few hours before, Rory Friers, who also plays guitar, tells me they’ve already experienced the madness of Barcelona in the wake of recent social and political turmoil after walking through the town square during the then-president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont’s decision on independence. “Whenever people are talking to us about touring, they always say, “Oh, it must be so great to see all these beautiful places. But it is like someone coming up to you at a restaurant and showing you a beautiful meal, then they just take it away.”
As we find a cozy corner to sit down and drink, Friers talks to me about how the new songs have felt in front of an audience. “It’s the same thing with every album. We go out and all we want to do is play new songs. But you inevitably realise they’re so much harder to play than the old songs” he laughs. “In the past week, we’ve been changing the set every night. It’s super refreshing. The CPU spikes during the new songs for sure. In front of an audience, there are dark lights, there’s flashing, you’re not facing the band. You can learn to juggle absolutely fine. But it’s like someone asking you to juggle in a boat during a storm.”
Having experimented heavily on the previous two releases, ‘The Endless Shimmering’ joins together the songwriting and craftsmanship they’ve gained to exercise their love of experimentation with an expertly executed dose of hard-hitting nostalgia. ‘All Hail Bright Futures’ delivered a cosmic euphoria soaked in clean production, and ‘Heirs’ indulged in a garage rock-soaked experimentation with vocal melodies, but with ‘The Endless Shimmering’ the four-piece have hit a milestone in terms of pushing their craft method to new horizons.
The process of recording this album was purposefully minimalist – creating and refining the songs where they’re most comfortable, in a rehearsal room. After playing the songs so much they couldn’t help but remember them, burying themselves in a studio in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. After six days, they’d recorded an album. Buried within this nine-song epic is a story. However, the exact plot is something the band would rather keep to themselves, to avoid taking away from any messages or emotions listeners may naturally receive.
“It’s all part of the process to get where we are. We knew we weren’t going to go in the studio and make an album, we were going to write an album and then go and record it. Everyone has their own shit going on and everybody needs to feel like they can have their own narrative of a song,” Friers continues. “So once you start adding lyrics or a really overt message to anything, even though the temptation is there, I think you’ve just got to keep to the idea that we’re not here to say something loudly, we’re here to let people feel something really strongly.”
It’s an arduous task to set, forming a ubiquitous narrative that can act as a vessel for people’s emotions to materialise, but an even harder task to break this story into pieces while keeping hold of that original intention for the song. Dividing these new songs between fan favorites can be a struggle though, Friers confesses. “There are certain songs in our catalogue you know are just hitters on the night. They work in a live scenario and they become this whole new beast beyond what they were on the album. But you’ve got to make room and give the new songs time to breathe and become these new monsters.
“We’ll make an album that’s got an ebb and flow to it. We write it, record it and release it. That’s the way it’s meant to be. When you start to play songs live though it’s a very insular process and you try not to think about crowds or playing to other people. We try to just write what’s exciting for us in the room and be as purist as possible about that. But as soon as you start performing it live they’re not really our property anymore, they belong to the people who come to our shows. Every time you play it, it redefines your idea of it. The setlist that you craft becomes an album in itself where you describe a new story. The way we obsess over a setlist is the same way we obsess over the track order of an album.”
“It’s like everything in this band,” adds Kennedy. “A process of establishing something and trying to craft it until it’s the best version of itself. The setlist is something we’re working on constantly. Every time we come off stage we have a little meeting. “What sucked about that? What needs to change?”
This is a visible truth for the band. After releasing what is arguably their bravest album, ‘All Hail Bright Futures’, the band would organically play through the first three or four tracks, giving them the musical context they were designed to have. Now, these songs are spread throughout the setlist yet have found a comfortable independence alongside old and new tracks.
“It takes a while for us to detach from the thing we’ve become so precious about”, Friers explains as he leans forward toward the conversation. “But those are healthy moments for us as a band – to split those things apart and have that psyche and apply it to any aspect of the bands. It’s healthy for us as it takes away any notion of fear.”
