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What to expect with Megafauna
Megafauna is the seventh studio album from Irish post-rock outfit, And So I Watch You From Afar, which is a tribute to the two places they collectively call home: Portrush (on the Irish North Coast) and Belfast.
It's an album which embraces the melding of different styles including free jazz, math-rock and experimental indie rock.
Kicking off with North Coast Megafauna, this opening track is a beautiful bastardisation of styles in which math-rock, surf-rock and free jazz guitar licks converge to give way to the heavy crunch of post-rock riff mayhem at the crescendo. I didn’t know there was a Venn diagram for a band assimilating styles of Mars Volta, Butthole Surfers and Pelican - but here we are.
Do Mor, on the other hand, is this frenzied maelstrom of thoughts and ideas. Starting off with a basic riff which builds into these sharp guitar solos that are incredibly distinct as they flirt into jazz-math-core territory before the somber and light drum fills and ambient guitar work calls you into attention. Finishing up with this heavy effects driven coda, reminding me of early Battles.
Time signatures be damned in Gallery of Honour, which is this foot-stomping jive where the drums and guitars seem to face off with one another before an ethereal cosmic jam destroys all your senses. It’s well executed, it’s highly jarring, it’s guaranteed to make you go “what-the-fuck is happening to my brain with these solos” before a light keyboard lick outros the song, giving you a moment to compose yourself.
Meanwhile, Mother Bellfast (Part 1) exists somewhere projects like Horse the Band! and Maserati like to dwell. There’s the almost Nintendocore experimentation that is Freeform and flowing but without the hokey sounds that make you dream up a sequence from Castlevania 2. At the same time there’s the gradual build up that makes me think of Maserati if Maserati made their point quicker and had melodies that soared instead of saddened the listener.
Leading into the conclusion of Mother Belfast (Part 2); an oddball that shaped around this steady drum and piano beat heralding the coming of a titan marching into war. A war that sees the screeching guitar solos lay out the landscape and environment as the sliding riffs and nonstop fuzz effects depict an unwinnable battle that jarringly comes to an abrupt halt.
In comparison to the others, the identity of sixth track, Years Ago, isn’t as clear as the others and I can either take it or leave it with the first half but when the second half of the track kicks in there’s some classic power-metal riffage peeking through ether as the mathcore drum beats hold down the fort.
One of the shorter tracks, Any Joy spends its time bathing in the concept of what a classical ballad absent of vocals could sound like. Movements that make you hum along or just sing the harmony, there’s a deliberate attempt to forge a song that has cinematic appeal at the height of a scene that reeks of unfathomable sadness. The heavenly strings, melancholic piano and crashing cymbals ensure this track can take us on a musical journey it needs us to go on. A perfect rendition for the track's namesake.
As we enter the home stretch, Button Days ups the tempo, bringing us back into the territory of multiple styles complementing each other. Heavy syncopation is the key component as fuzzy distortion melds into light and airy chords that break up this aural assault.
Leading into Me and Dunbar which sees out this record with highlights of the best elements of post rock and mathcore. Specifically, how they can live in harmony with one another. While the rumbling of drums and barrage of guitars echo through your speakers you can get the feeling of a show coming to an end. A deliberate encore of the eight previous tracks.
So if you're into flagrantly experimental free-jazz that bands like Battles and Dillinger Escape Plan flirted with mixed in with the crunchy fuzz of post-rock masters like Pelican or Isis then 'Megafauna' by And So I Watch You From Afar will definitely be your kind of weird.
Megafauna is out August 9th, 2024.
