Artist: And So I Watch You From Afar 
Album: Heirs 
Release Date: May 4, 2015 
Label: Sargent House 
CD / VINYL / DIGITAL / iTUNES

All Songs written & performed by And So I Watch You From Afar 
Rory Friers - guitar, vocals
Niall Kennedy - guitar, vocals
Johnny Adger - bass, vocals
Chris Wee - drums, vocals 
Produced and Mixed by Rocky O'Reilly & And So I Watch You From Afar 
Recorded in Belfast at Start Together Studios, Mandela Hall &  Blackstaff Mill 
Engineered by Rocky O'Reilly & Niall Doran 
Mastered by Robin Schmidt at 2496 Mastering
Art & Layout by Sonny Kay 

Lyrics and additional vocals on Track 4 by Ewen Friers 
Additional backing vocals on Track 2 by Henry Kohen 
Trumpets on Track 8 by Linley Hamilton

Management by Cathy Pellow and Mick Roe for Sargent House

Heirs Bio 2015

And So I Watch You From Afar
Heirs
 
And So I Watch You From Afar have applied to their fourth album the same rigorous work ethic that has seen them touring nearly non-stop all over the world in recent years — including less common tour stops like China, Russia, India and Africa. Heirs is both the band’s most painstakingly created album as well as its most personal and meaningful. “Its central theme is about the inheritance of ideas,” the band says. “In that we’re all heirs to other peoples’ passion, which in turn inspires ourselves.”
 
Many new lives, new imperatives and invigorated perspectives helped shape the 10-song album borne of over 30 tracks written in prolific isolation spanning over 6 months in the band’s Belfast, Northern Ireland home. It’s a work of intense focus and adventurous abandon that reaches to the heart of artistic expression. 
 
“We started making the album while touring in 2013,” guitarist Rory Friers explains. “We would be recording demos in our hotel rooms, back stage and we would even hire out rehearsal rooms during days off.” Being the first album with new guitarist Niall Kennedy (who joined as a touring member in 2012), the band grew increasingly productive taking half a year off from the road and working nearly every waking moment together in their rehearsal room. Friers and Kennedy, along with drummer Chris Wee and bassist Johnathan Adger amassed about 30 new songs, which were then whittled down to 15 tracks. Of those 15, only 10 songs made the final cut, carefully selecting those that best represented the ideas and feelings the band wanted to express with the album. 
 
“Its called Heirs as a tribute to a lot of new people who came into all our lives during the writing and recording of the album — lots of nephews and Johnny had a daughter, Eisa,” Friers explains. “It seems like the songs soaked up all those feelings we had during the writing. Because making the album was such an intentionally intense and full time experience none of us where listening to much other music or even experiencing much else outside of it. So, it feels like a very pure representation of what happens when these four people decide to make music together. It was a very intense time and the record has been shaped by that.”
 
Album opener “Run Home” kicks things off with a flurry of hammer-on guitar notes and a chorus of voices chanting the two words of the song title as the band races toward the anthem’s explosive conclusion. Elsewhere, Wee’s maniacal double-time rolling toms, Adger’s rumbling heavily-distorted bass and murmuring guitar notes drive the perpetually buzzing (and fittingly titled) “Wasps” as reverb-drenched voices howl above the proceedings until banshee wail harmonized guitars erupt, nearly decimating everything in their path. “A Beacon, A Compass, An Anchor” takes a slow build approach, starting out with melancholy chords fading in to a pulsing 3/4-time driving rhythm section and muted, scraped guitars leading to a soaring harmonized guitar leads. The album title track is also its longest at seven and a half minutes, and fittingly as explorative as all that went into the album’s creation. Staccato guitar chords lead into an impossibly complex time signature as half-time drums and bass drop in while a heavily-effected guitar lead veers throughout the tune. All of those elements converge into an anthemic melody that peaks with a simple, infectious hook in the last 1:27 that ties Heirs up concisely with its deliberate, determined power. 
 
Heirs will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on May 4th, 2015 via Sargent House. 

Heirs Reviews 

"...this record feels familiar while coming across as totally fresh and invigorating, and if you didn't manage to grab a strong cup of coffee this morning, Heirs will do you just fine." - The Fader

"Like the sonic equivalent of a Rorschach test, each track is riddled with vast soundscapes begging to be explored and made sense of." - 4/5, Kerrang!

"ASIWFYA remain the most exciting band in instrumental rock." - 9/10, Total Guitar


"Let this band do their thing. This album's blaze of focused, intense, sublime and ridiculous alt-rock prove it's clearly worth it." - 8/10, Rock Sound


"Looking back, we're a long way from their self-titled debut, however 'Heirs' feels a much more full affair, with plenty more vocal expressions coming through. Its complexity and frantically upbeat mantra leaves a heart warming smile on your face. A masterpiece." - 9/10, Big Cheese

"Group chants, warped guitar shreds, and a seemingly incessant furious energy. Sound familiar? For fans of Belfast’s And So I Watch You From Afar, this should resonate loudly; have no fear, the quartet shows no signs of changing, as is clear from forthcoming release Heirs." - 7/10, The Line Of Best Fit


"All Hail Bright Futures certainly left the band bigger than ever, but the question leading up to their follow-up to that, Heirs, was if they would build upon that success by doubling down on that formula, returning back to their musical roots, or by flipping the script again and doing something completely different once more. Heirs suggests that the band have decided to do all three at once, and the result is a very good album that mostly succeeds in threading the needle of past, current, and future." - 4/5, Heavy Blog Is Heavy


 

"2015's Heirs is a propulsive fusion of guitars, synthesizers, and drums, with wordless clouds of vocals hovering over it all as the musicians generate crisp, forceful fields of sound that hit hard but maintain a striking melodic grace. Heirs demonstrates a band that can be articulate without speaking in words, and And So I Watch You from Afar are a smart, inventive group who continue to progress with each visit to the recording studio." - 3.5/5, AllMusic.com


"Heirs is, in a word, huge. Everything about it is huge. Presumably, the album sales and crowds on their extensive European and North Ameircan tour will be too. And why shouldn't they be? Heirs merits these things and more." - 5/5, State.ie
 

"...Heirs is a perfect mix of old and new sounds and as I shouted at the start of the review, their best album yet." - Echoes And Dust

"Heirs is And So I Watch You From Afar’s most mature effort yet, marrying relentlessness and relaxation in a way that should attract even those who usually don’t like the genre." - 4/5, Sputnik Music


"Heirs neatly summarises everything And So I Watch You From Afar have created so far - moody and glowering but with an increasingly sunny outlook. A compelling experience from top to bottom." - The Skinny

"Heirs is an album that’s all about action. Where ASIWYFA excel is is leaping between sections most unexpectedly, with instantaneous changes in tempo and dynamic without it ever sounding contrived or forced. They also excel at being a rock band. And Heirs does definitely rock." - 8/10, Shout 4 Music


"The increased vocal presence, having only really been introduced for the first time on third album All Hail Bright Futures, is a welcome addition to ASIWYFA’s arsenal, and is one of the main reasons Heirs feels simultaneously more varied, yet also much more focused sonically." - 3.5/5, Headstuff


"It feels like a rush of blood through the head, which carries both something serious/sad and something intriguingly amazing." - Stereofox


"From cover to cover, there is all the youthful exuberance of Bright Futures – those spritely, sun-drenched hooks, meshed with the contemplative sensibility of Gangs and their self-titled debut." - Fecking Bahamas


"ASIWYFA have honed skills from ‘All Hail Bright Futures’ and compacted and improved the formula. A truly unclassifiable sound, uplifting, and inspiring, perfecting a technical sound that is readily accessible (no mean feat)." - Pastiebap


"To sum up, ASIWYFA have created another sonically stunning set of songs that sees them further their quest as sonic sculptors and powerhouse musicians and furthermore cementing them as one of the best progressive rock bands in the world today." - No Brainer Zine


"As the band releases their fourth album, the Belfast natives are holding onto their melodic roots, but with a more polished, tight-knit feel. Heirs pushes the boundaries of math-rock, carefully and meticulously fusing hardcore and instrumental elements." - 4.5/5, Dusty Organ Music



"With Heirs And So I Watch You From Afar have carved out a sound that mixes the raw energy and passion of their 2009 self titled debut, the groove and intricacies of 2011’s Gangs and the vocal progression of 2013’s All Hail Bright Futures. Taken as a whole it could easily be considered their strongest (and most accessible) to date." - 9/10, Alt Dialogue