GANGS

'Gangs' - And So I Watch You From Afar (7/10)

Math rock remains to be one of the few outlets in progressive rock I have not yet explored, so even while the sound here is not entirely alien to me, this 2011 album has given me an exciting jolt of adrenaline. And So I Watch You From Afar was recommended to me by the former bassist of my band, and showing me a track or two from their first, self-titled album, I found them to be very fresh sounding, impressing me with their technical and sporadic take on post-rock. 2011 sees And So I Watch You From Afar delivering their second dose of strangeness to the world, and it is fairly easy to see why post and math rock fans may be raving over it. Over a forty-five minute period, the band takes the listener on a rhapsodic blitz through a myriad of often technical, often dissonant, and mostly excellent musical ideas; the result is a feeling of awe at the band's display, but also of scatteredness.

And So I Watch You From Afar is incredibly complex music, but they manage to keep it energetic and fun, often switching between sharp, strange moments and more rocking ones. This gives a nice balance for the band's music, and the weirdly technical sound of the band never gets overbearing. Of course, it is the bands experimental approach that are their greatest asset; sometimes I think a crude Bela Bartok guitar composition on LSD, or at other times, Explosions In The Sky on PCP. There are melodies which weave their ways into the more conventional post-rock sections of this album, and those make for an incredibly refreshing change of pace.

The most lasting impression that 'Gangs' remains still in the way they are sporadically able to change between sounds and pack so many ideas into an album. There is structure to the songwriting here, but it appears more in the sense that some of the more memorable hooks pop up here and there throughout the song. Besides that, ASIWYFA has the carte blanche to keep exploring new ideas. The band is instrumental, but they never get boring; there is certainly never the sense that an idea ever gets old. On the contrary, sometimes it feels as if the band would have benefited by sticking on one or two ideas a little longer, and create more of a coherent structure with them. However, for what I'm assuming that the band was aiming for, this scattered and 'out there' feeling that the songwriting has is successful, for the most part.

The ideas here themselves can range from being brilliant in their complexity and arrangement, to sometimes quite frankly irritating; ASIWYFA's mathier dissonance and distorted appeal does not always brush by me the right way, and while I can only appreciate their crazy take on the post-rock sound, it is definitely a sound that leaves plenty of room for flaws. That being said, the band's excellence is fairly evident with 'Gangs', and at the rocketing pace they're going at, one can only expect them to reach the moon before long.

Even though some speculate that we're getting close to an end of another progressive rock era, this notion doesn't seem to come across when looking at all the new talent that we've got rounded up just outside our door. This metaphorical door is meant to represent the comfort zone of an average prog fan since they generally base their opinion of a prog movement based on the regressive prog bands and artists.

Gangs is another one of this year's biggest album surprises but please don't let terms like instrumental math rock deceive you since this is far from an experience that only fans of the genre will enjoy. The music is filled with memorable hooks and melodies while still remaining complex and mathematical.

One thing that might not come across from this album experience is that And So I Watch You From Afar is a magnificent live band. Their live performances of these compositions has more than improved on the sophomore album originals and has pushed my enjoyment of the material even further. I'm not sure if there is really any point of dissecting this release into it's individual compositions and performances since this is really a continuous stream of music that is comprised of pure joy to both the ears and mind.

I really hope that more people would be able to leave their preconceptions of this music outside the door and just give Gangs a go based on nothing more than their passion for discovering new music. Just imagine yourself being a brave explorer on the great sea of undiscovered progressive rock music setting a course for the new frontier. The worst case scenario is that you gain a better understanding of the term math rock!

***** star songs: BEAUTIFULUNIVERSEMASTERCHAMPION (5:52) Search:Party:Animal (5:18)

**** star songs: Gang (Starting Never Stopping) (5:26) 7 Billion People All Alive At Once (5:44) Think:Breathe:Destroy (4:43) Homes - Ghost Parlor KA -6 To... (2:46) Homes - ...Samara To Belfast (9:50) Lifeproof (5:05)