With new album Megafauna ahead and almost 20 years in the game, Ireland's experimental cult weirdos And So I Watch You From have always absorbed new ideas and pushed the boundaries of their intricate and ecstatic guitar-based Posteverything-compositions.

But nothing in their repertoire comes close to the ambition and scale of their 2022 multimedia long form ensemble piece project Jettison.

Conceived by And So I Watch You From Afar's guitarist Rory Friers and brought to life by the band, orchestrator Connor O'Boyle, the Arco String Quartet, and visual artist Sam Wiehl, Jettison is a fusion of ASIWYFA's life-affirming musical acrobatics, the sweeping grandeur of film scores, and the surreal and sublime capabilities of moving pictures.

The Jettison stage is set with the peaceful opening piano chords and orchestral stirrings of "Dive Pt1" before the lift-off commences on "Dive Pt2," where Friers and Kennedy are joined by their compatriots Chris Wee on drums and Johnny Adger on bass.

From there, the 40-minute, nine-part journey of Jettison traverses the various shades of ASIWYFA's euphoric instrumentals imbued by the ethereal elegance of the Arco String Quartet.

Brief snippets of cryptic dialogue by Emma Ruth Rundle and Neil Fallon are sprinkled throughout the album, nudging the listener along the path like guideposts, hinting at a larger storyline and further colouring the experience while still allowing an overall sense of mystery to surround the composition.

Whether it's the staccato guitars and pedalboard manipulations of "Lung," the dubby bass and sparse folk melodies of "In Air," the anthemic spirit of "Emerge," or the perfect symbiosis of classic ASIWYFA electric jubilance and the Arco String Quartet's delicate grace, the various chapters of Jettison retain the spirit and timbre of ASIWYFA while expanding the possibilities of their sound and hyper-saturating the senses through supplementary instrumentation.

Jettison by no means is a usual ASIWYFA album. Rather, it is a very deliberate departure as opposed to an evolutionary step to increasingly complex and conceptual work.

The former only limited available release is reissued now!