Genre : Instrumental cinematic post-rock, Math-rock
Released : February 18th, 2022
Label : Velocity Records
FFO : Nordic Giants, The Dear Hunter, Maybeshewill
"Cinematic" has become synonymous with post-rock ever since the genre's inception and is often the go-to adjective to describe the music of bands that dwell within it.
Multiple post-rock bands have turned to film scores over the years in search of inspiration and that is still seemingly very much the case.
However, with "Jettison", And So I Watch You From Afar seem to have taken it upon themselves to approach composition for this new album as if they were indeed scoring a theatrical release for the big screen while also being in charge of writing its script and, well...pretty much directing an art film destined for broad audiences that only exists within the listener's mind's eye as the music unfurls.
This cinematic feeling is brought to life as soon as the album opens with spoken-word narration from none other than Emma Ruth Rundle, soon to be followed by Neil Fallon (Clutch).
Although the narrative remains vague and never goes into specifics all that much, it is enough to set the foundations to a story which you, the listener, are in charge of adapting.
The other main element which gives the music its filmic quality, is the band's collaboration with the Arco String Quartet who also hail from the band's hometown of Belfast.
The level of emotion brought by the quartet is truly palpable and more often than not, the string arrangements on "Jettison" are extremely evocative and genuinely moving.
Paired with the band's ability to conjure up vibrant sonic landscapes while also being able to avoid the genre's biggest compositional stereotypes that you can hear coming from miles away; this truly makes for a powerful combination.
Over the course of the album, ASIWYFA also occasionally set aside the dramatic post-rock style to return to their jumpy, energetic math-rock roots which allows "Jettison" to not be solely one-dimensional stylistically speaking either, unlike many post-rock albums out there.
This to me, is post-rock at its best :
Highly evocative, engaging throughout, emotional, multi-faceted and with some degree of experimentation; And So I Watch You From Afar, "we missed you".