Album review: And So I Watch You From Afar – Megafauna

For nearly two decades, And So I Watch You From Afar have quietly built a formidable reputation amongst ArcTanGent regulars and other post-rock cognoscenti. Their 2022 release Jettison, a 40-minute suite recorded with a string quartet, felt like they’d scaled the summit of their ambition, inadvertently raising the question of what they could possibly do next. The answer turns out to simply have a ruddy blast.

Megafauna was conceived as a tribute to their friends and hometowns, although as it’s entirely instrumental you wouldn’t necessarily know if the band hadn’t mentioned it. What does come through is a sense of joy and playfulness; the screwball post-punk energy of Button Days is totally infectious, while throughout the album there’s a sense that the band could gleefully stomp on their distortion pedals at any moment.

There’s a winning resistance here to the notion that post-rock is defined by melancholy and portentousness. Traditional hooks may be absent, but there are multiple points on Megafauna where abrupt gear changes or attention-grabbing riffs and dual-harmony leads force involuntary air-punching. The math-funk of Mother Belfast (Part 2) is just one example of an impressive ability to harness undeniable chops in the service of spirited accessibility.

Even when the conclusion of North Coast Megafauna hits Mogwai-esque peaks of noise, ASIWYFA are too fleet-footed to sound heavy as such. Everything they throw into this record, which is plenty, aims for the celebratory rather than the crushing. Even the comparatively downtempo pairing of Years Ago and Any Joy twinkle like a clear night sky. This a band audibly having fun with their music, and it suits this bunch very well indeed.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Maybeshewill, Pelican, This Will Destroy You

Megafauna is released on August 9 via Pelagic