Live Review: And So I Watch You From Afar – Nottingham

It’s always a pleasure to go to a Rescue Rooms show, having grown up in Nottingham it was one of the first places I was able to discover the joy of live music, and alternative music in general. I’ve had the pleasure of catching some of my favourite bands such as The Fall Of Troy, Rolo Tomassi, Oathbreaker and Devil Sold His Soul in this venue over the years. The show I’m reviewing today will sit firmly in one of my favourite shows I’ve had the chance to see at the venue; an outstanding display of peak musicianship, showmanship and expertise from all three bands.

If you’re one of the people who purposely arrive to a gig just in time for the main act and missing the support slots, you’d have missed out big-time on this one. Paranoid Void, from Osaka, Japan; this math-rock three-piece started the show as it meant to go on with an outstanding display. It’s always impressive to see anybody master the art of playing two instruments at once, and in true Rush fashion, a quality display of bass/keys domination came true from the start. Sound-wise, think The Physics House Band, but with a happier, more carefree vibe akin to Strawberry Girls, an Orchards-esque guitar tone, and Floral and Chon levels of technical ability. They brought a fantastic balance of melody and discordance, without neglecting the groove necessary – an often-overlooked trick by a number of instrumental bands. On mention of Rush, they weren’t without their occasional sway into an unashamed 80’s sci-fi vibe, and fully embraced the uniqueness of their music from the get-go by prefacing their music with the instruction to the crowd of “let’s get weird” – a gesture which I found to be a nice nod to the lightheartness and joy that music can bring to others, and affirmed the band themselves as having a welcome sense of humour and not-too-serious-to-enjoy-yourself attitude. They promised at the end of their set to come and visit the UK soon, and I really hope they do! It’s always great when you find a support band who becomes a new favourite, and this trio have done that with me!

I went into this show knowing embarrassingly little about Delta Sleep; I’d heard them a handful of times, sure, but there’s such a lot of music out there, and unfortunately, before now, they’d fallen into the category of being one of those bands I was vaguely aware of and didn’t really follow. So, no doubt those more familiar with the band than me reading this will know what’s coming next, which is that I thought they were absolutely bloody superb! How would I describe their sound? Post-math? Stadium-math? Without tying myself in knots trying to define a genre I’ll leave it at that, but their melancholy vibe, use of minimalism, combined with probably one of the best live drummers I’ve ever seen at any show ever bringing an absolute monster out of the calm forest of guitar/bass/keys/vocals blew me away (side-note and nod to the winning team of drummer and his crew who managed to fix a broken hi-hat early in the set without missing so much as a single hit!). For those unfamiliar with Delta Sleep and maybe looking for something a bit more specific to define them, I think of them now as if Mew had formed 15 years after they did, recruited the dude from Agent Fresco on drums, and swapped his ADHD meds for caffeine pills. Get on your favoured streaming platform or audio media consumption method of choice and give them a listen; expect to be impressed by a substantial but not overwhelming back-catalogue, and some really pretty, technical and unique song writing. Also my friend Adam who came to the show with me would like me to point out that they dressed their set with glowing pink balls, which I have to admit was a pretty cool touch!

It says a lot about a band when they’ve been going for 20 years and they’re still one of the coolest bands to say you’re into. I took four friends with me to this show, all of them had never heard And So I Watch You From Afar before, and one of them said to me before they started “I don’t really like instrumental bands”. I wasn’t worried. I was right not to be worried. The guys absolutely dominated! I had the pleasure of reviewing their latest album, Megafauna, before its release a few months back, so I was pretty excited to see this anyway, and my word they did not disappoint. The set was a pitch-perfect balance between homage to their past classics and a fine showcasing of their new material. There’s a reason why, to paraphrase my last article on ASIWYFA, they are amongst the top heavyweights of the post-rock/math-rock soup of genres. Rumbling bass and spot-on drums combined both together and intertwined with the twin guitar chaos perfectly, in a humbling soundscape that left me and my sceptical and unsure mates in gobsmacked awe. The show lacked any form of pretention or showoffyness which can be much associated with math, yet by no means lacked in the much expected technical skill and musicianship that is synonymous with the band. Absolutely amazing performance by an absolutely awe-inspiring band.

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that this was a most enjoyable show. I’d recommend all bands to be fair, and would encourage people to go see them should they return, but I’d doubly encourage you to take time out to a) check out Paranoid Void, both their recorded music and their hopefully-returning live show, and b) if you haven’t already, take a good listen to ASIWYFA’s Megafauna (and beyond if the mood takes you!) and be inspired by just how damn good they are!