2013 Best Albums - Mark’s #4 - And So I Watch You From Afar - All Hail Bright Futures
I’ll be totally honest here. My top 4 is more or less pick ‘em. To that end, in the fourth spot, I have the album I put at number one in a list I made last week. In this version, my top 4 wound up being in alphabetical order. I’ll leave it up to you to determine whether that was intentional or not.
This is And So I Watch You From Afar’s third full-length and the third time they’ve found themselves in my year-end top 5. I don’t know what I can say here that I haven’t already said, I’ve made it abundantly clear that I consider ASIWYFA one of the best modern bands in music, let alone post-rock. This is a genre marked with inconsistency and disappointment for me, but the lads from Northern Ireland have managed to surprise and delight with each subsequent release so far.
This is an album where they very easily could have taken a step back. Not long after the release of their sophomore effort Gangs, guitarist Tony Wright left the band. They still had primary guitarist Rory Friers, but the first two records had been marked by mindboggling interplay between the two talented players. It was going to be interesting to see how well Friers could carry that weighty legacy on his own.
As it turns out, there was no reason for concern, ASIWYFA came charging back with an absolute burner of a record. Reflected by its title, All Hail Bright Futures is their most upbeat to date, and truthfully, one of the most upbeat in the genre period. Never a band to cower from speed, the listeners cheeks flap Maxwell-commercial style at points of this record, then slam their head on the dashboard from a dramatic turn of pace and rhythm. The absence of a second guitar is covered by a variety of additional instruments and an extension of the group vocal parts that marked the first two records.
This is also the band’s most cohesive album front to back. The way they achieved this is fairly counter-intuitive considering the genre: the songs are short. Five of the twelve songs don’t break the three minute mark. The only song that weighs in over five is the seven minute slow-building and lovely “Young Brave Minds”, an epilogue of sorts that features musical nods to earlier tracks on the record.
Now with touring guitarist Niall Kennedy seemingly a full-time member of the band, ASIWYFA is back to full strength. I’m already very excited to see where they take this knack for broader songwriting with another guitarist back in tow. But in the meantime, All Hail Bright Futures is another huge victory for modern post-rock’s best band. - MO
