First teased two years ago, Jettison is And So I Watch You From Afar’s grandest work to date. Originally conceived as a soundtrack to a movie yet to be made, it’s taken the Belfast instrumental rockers five years to perfect. Guitarist Rory Friers takes Prog on a journey through a multimedia soundscape that finds them working with the Arco String Quartet, Emma Ruth Rundle and Clutch’s Neil Fallon.

Words: Alex Lynham

You’re getting close to the edge, boys!

Images: Ciara McMullan

“Jettison was a companion through quite a difficult period for everyone. I feel like there’s a slight triumph at now managing to get it out.”

Jettison, the new album from Northern Irish instrumental rockers And So I Watch You From Afar, is a change of gear for many reasons. Most noticeably, it’s a departure in tone compared to their 2017 album The Endless Shimmering. In place of the gut-punch riffs and towering bombast is a more nuanced progression, written and presented as a single 40-minute song. It’s also a multimedia concept album, accompanied by a film created by visual artist Sam Wiehl. It’s been a long time coming too, with the band first teasing it in 2020.

Guitarist and principal songwriter Rory Friers reflects on the effect that the last two years has had on Jettison: “In the process of making a record, you spend a lot of time with that music and usually by the time you’re done with it – ‘over it’ is a bit harsh – but your mind moves on to other things. I was worried that there would be a sense of complete detachment from it, or it would feel like something that I no longer cared about. But weirdly it kind of became almost a totem of, ‘This is the thing that is going to happen when things get back to normal.’ It was a companion through quite a difficult period for everyone. I feel like there’s a slight triumph at now managing to get it out.”