In this installment of Monday Mixtape, Ewen Friers of North Coast post-rock heroes And So I Watch You From Afar takes us on a guided tour of the music that soundtracked the band’s recent U.S.—from Peach and Blue Whale, to Real Terms and Junk Drawer.
I thought that seeing as I’ve spent the summer travelling in support of ‘Megafauna’, a nice framing device for my mixtape might be basing it around some of the bands and artists I’ve encountered along the way, some new, some well established, some I’ve been a fan of for years, some I’ve just discovered!
Whilst we pride ourselves on our eclectic tastes, for the most part ASIWYFA operates in the instrumental, math rock, post rock kind of world. I think I could safely say that that world probably does not form the major part of my listening choices more generally, but this summer has reminded me how damn good so many of the purveyors of those styles are.
Caspian – Sycamore
In the many years I’ve been touring, I have shared the road with a whole heap of bands and crew: People from all over the world, people with many different approaches to the world. I count myself lucky in that those travels have almost exclusively been alongside nice friendly people who are pleasant to work with and pleasant to be around. But with Caspian it was on a whole other level! We blitzed around North America together on a bus for 3 weeks in July and August and during that time, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, we formed lifelong friendships. With both bands pushing 40 years of existence between them it’s heartening to know you can still access that almost childlike magic of enjoying new experiences with new friends. It helps that they rip live too!
Peach – Dread
Peach were a revelation for me. I had some time to explore Arc Tangent Festival before our set on the Saturday. Some of the sounds emanating from a, then unknown to me, band’s line check were sufficiently intriguing for me to hang about in anticipation for their set. As a healthy crowd began to muster, I discovered that this was Peach, a band who had actually come recommended from a few trusted sources. The set was raw and powerful with palpable tension. It felt authentic and unscripted and their kind of jeopardy meets despondency really appealed to me. I think Peach are the real deal and can’t wait to catch them again.
Junk Drawer – Tears In Costa
Somewhere between the US tour, the festival jaunts and releasing the Megafauna record I managed to squeeze in the hosting of the 5th iteration of my little alternative festival; Coaster. Coaster is a skate jam and musical festival that takes over Portrush for a day every summer. With the inevitable frantic chaos that comes with organising something like this overwhelming me from sunrise to sunset, I rarely get a second to enjoy the fruits of my labour. That said, as Junk Drawer launched into their set at the Playhouse at this year’s Coaster, I had a moment of reflection. We had run a series of successful skate comps, awarded the young skaters at a prize-giving ceremony, further advanced the cause for a skate park in the town with a huge public show of strength and we’d just sold the last available tickets to that evening’s festivities. I took a second to allow myself some quiet self-satisfaction, especially given that being organisationally minded comes more as a necessity than an instinct. Having my favourite band in Belfast onboard was just the cherry on top, ‘Tears In Costa’ soundtracked my moment of self-congratulation. (The fact Thin Air editor Brian is in JD makes this something of a public back slapping – yes, but true all the same!)
Delta Sleep – The Detail
I’ve been enjoying the Delta Sleep stuff for a few years now. Having not seen them live, there was a lovely anticipation rushing across the Arc Tangent parking and camping grounds, to catch the end of their Friday evening set. We could hear the band and crowd from a long way off as we negotiated our way across the site. The roar of 1000s as The Detail kicked in was special and we got as close as possible for the last few tracks. We tour with Delta Sleep in December and I love that this was my live introduction to the band.
Explosions in the Sky – The Only Moment We Were Alone
When you play with a lot of instrumental rock bands you tend to become kind of desensitised to the genre. That’s not a slight on instrumental or post-rock bands, I think that would happen to anyone immersed in any specific genre. The fact that EITS were headlining one of the nights of this year’s ATG had kind of passed me by beforehand. It wasn’t until I stood with 10,000+ fans listening to The Only Moment We Were Alone live, that it occurred to me how insane the last few years have been. I was very into The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place. That album challenged the 16-year-old punk me and it was my introduction to an entire new sound, world, musical aesthetic. Explosions were my entry point to a world that I have been inhabiting ever since, first as a crew member and now as a performing member of an instrumental band. Of course, ASIWYFA isn’t the household name that Explosions In the Sky are, but to close out a night at this year’s festival when the other three nights were closed by Meshuggah, Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky is an insane prospect, one my 16-year-old self never could have anticipated. The fact that Explosions were apparently delighted by the ASIWYFA/Boundary Brewery collab beers that were left in their dressing room is a genuinely heartwarming bonus.
Blue Whale – Ballad
We’ve had this track on our pre-show playlist for a couple of years now. It forms part of a collection of songs playing in venues before and after our shows. I’ve heard it in all manner of venues, across quite a geographical tract by now. From dingy clubs to festival stages, as I do the final checks at the merch desk just before doors open or in the nervous moments before we drop the house lights and wander on stage, it’s tied into the story of the band over the last few years, touring UK, EU and North America. Much to our delight Blue Whale were on the bill at our Courthouse show in Bangor, as part of Open House Festival the day the record came out. All pent up with release day delight and pre-show adrenaline we heard the lads batter this one out live downstairs as we chatted through our set list in the upstairs dressing room. There was a nice holistic kind of conclusion to the whole run-up to and releasing of the record and it’s nice that Blue Whale formed a part of that, whether they knew it or not!
Real Terms – Ornaments
During this summer’s touring schedule I bumped into a few certified stars! Not least in Montreal where, by mere coincidence, I met skateboard legend Andrew Reynolds outside a coffee shop. Despite having watched hours of Reynolds footage, bought mountains of his merchandise and played as his avatar in multiple computer games since I was a kid, I managed to keep it somewhat restrained and play it cool. The opposite could be said for when I spotted Real Terms’ John from across a field at a festival this summer and rudely left the friends and conversation I was engaging in to run off and wave down this stalwart of the UK underground math rock scene. Real Terms are one of my favourites; purposeful tunes, artfully crafted with a lovely warmth and heart to them, always careful that their virtuosity serves the song first. They are consistent too – Ornaments displaying their prowess while pulling them in interesting new directions.
