And So I Watch You From Afar: Heirs | Album Review

Much as we love Belfast's ASIWYFA, there is no easy way to say this: the first two minutes of the first track, Run Home, sounds so much like Yes in their mid-'70s twiddly, prog-rock, pomp and circumstance mode that it brings back painful memories.

The crucial difference is, of course, the mesmeric way ASIWYFA has with pulverising the listener into submission.

No matter, also, that the impressive grasp of dynamics across tracks such as These Secret Kings I Know, Wasps, People not Sleeping, Animal Ghosts and the title track bring to mind the fusionist spirit of Mahavishnu Orchestra and the improbably tricky time-signature templates of Muse – this is dynamic music whatever way it's sliced.

The album ends on a fine note with the almost bucolic Tryer, You, which is as good a tune as any you'll hear this year. Heirs? Graces, too.

[ asiwyfa.com ]