• Sparks: Mental Wellbeing & Recovery on The Road with ASIWYFA’s Chris Wee

    And So I Watch You From Afar drummer Chris Wee reflects on perspective, mental wellbeing and recovery on the open road. October 2nd 2015 : Santa Fe – Denver It is sometimes at our lowest points that we are the most open to experiencing something truly special and fulfilling. 9 shows left out of 31, feeling a little raggedy. We pulled away from last night’s accommodation, a truly soul destroying casino hotel, planted on the dusty nothingness somewhere outside of Santa Fe. Nowhere makes you more homesick than places like this. It was my turn to drive, and despite my…

  • AAA: And So I Watch You From Afar w/ Hot Cops @ T13, Belfast

    Last night we had the honour of being involved in a secret show that we’re not remotely likely to forget any time soon. Supported by fast-rising Belfast band Hot Cops, globetrotting North Coast post-rock quartet And So I Watch From Afar delivered an extraordinary, career-spanning set at T13 in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter. Simply put, if you were there you’ll know just how extraordinary it really was. Photos by Colm Laverty and Colm Moore. Photos by Colm Laverty Photos by Colm Moore

  • And So I Watch You From Afar in Japan

    And So I Watch You From Afar drummer Chris Wee reports from their recent stint in the Nihon lights of the Far East. With paper cup of coffee in hand I sat, knees wedged toward my chest in the first passenger row of our boxy Hiace van, the intrepid road warrior of many an Asian motorway. The whole thing shook and bumped at every contour of the Tomei Expressway connecting our last city of Nagoya to Tokyo. There are not too many certainties in life, but in terms of ASIWYFA, whether it was the 1000mile stretch from Edmonton to Salt…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 50 Irish Releases of 2015 (40-31)

    Following on from Monday’s first installment, we continue our countdown of our Top 50 Irish Releases of 2015, featuring glorious returns, new-fangled heroes. Go here to check out 50-41. 40. Lakker – Tundra “You should listen to it loudly, and try to get swept away by it.” So aptly concluded Pitchfork’s review of Tundra, the second album – and debut R&S full-length release – from Berlin-based Dublin electronic duo Lakker in a decade. Released back in May, it proved an immersive ten-track release inspired by No U-Turn Records, Arvo Part, Merzbow and early Human League. Now that’s a dinner party we’d pay good money to…

  • US Tour Diary: And So I Watch You From Afar

    Hello from Philadelphia! As I write we’re at tonight’s venue the Union Transfer, waiting for our soundcheck slot while the mighty The Fall of Troy are doing theirs. We’re on tour with them and a great NY based band called Slothrust at the minute, both serving up masterclasses in their craft each night, keeping us blow-ins from Ireland very much on our toes each night. After this we part ways to meet up and do the rest of the tour with our Sargent House label mates Mylets and Blis. We’re two weeks into the five week tour, having journeyed from…

  • ASIWYFA Irish Tour

    North Coast quartet And So I Watch You From Afar played two extraordinary Irish shows at the weekend, at Dublin’s Olympia and Belfast’s Mandela Hall respectively. Our photographers Isabel Thomas and Colm Laverty, and writers Eoghain Meakin and Cathal McBride were there to cover it all. Olympia Theatre, Dublin Photos by Isabel Thomas There’s something special about the Olympia. It’s not the most high profile venue in the city, nor does it always host the best acts from under or over the ground. But the traditional stage, elaborate plaster work and balconies add a sense of occasion to proceedings hard to…

  • Stream: And So I Watch You From Afar – Redesigned A Million Times

    A few days on from playing new material to a handful of fans and friends at a secret show in Belfast, And So I Watch You From Afar are streaming the triumphant ‘Redesigned A Million Times’. Taken from their new album, Heirs, is track has a distinctly more linear, pop-centric feel to previous material, whilst maintaining some of the classic hallmarks of the Northern Irish quartet’s sound. ASIWYFA play Dublin’s Olympia on June 19 and Belfast’s Mandela Hall on June 20 as part of a massive European tour. Go here to win tickets to the former show.

  • Monday Mixtape: Cathy Pellow (Sargent House)

    We’re very pleased to present this week’s Monday Mixtape, featuring none other than Sargent House founder and owner Cathy Pellow. A true champion of independent music and some of the very best artists around, Pellow’s mixtape features several unreleased tracks from the likes of R. Ariel, Mutoid Man, And So I Watch You From Afar and No Spill Blood, as well as released material from acts including Helms Alee and Wovenhand. And So I Watch You From Afar – Wasps (from Heirs, out on May 4) Blis. – Floating Somewhere High and Above (from Starting Fires In My Parents House) Empty Houses –…

  • Start A Van

    The follow-up to his introductory piece – Start a Band – And So I Watch You From Afar drummer Chris Wee continues his regular column with some of the more interesting, occasionally perilous tales of a touring band on the open road. Hello again and apologies for the delay on this follow-up installment of my column. My friends, family and colleagues will collectively attest to my gross misuse of such phrases as ‘sorry for the late reply’, ‘sorry i’m only getting back to you now’ and ‘sorry I just saw this’. In truth, I am awful at correspondence. I feel like my pre-disposition towards…