AMS album of the Week 18

Suspiciously named and sensibly abbreviated, ASIWYFA are a 4 piece who play instrumental rock. Their sound is probably best summarised by the title of their best known track, “Set Guitars To Kill” - hyperactive arena rock made to be heard from so close to the band that you can feel splinters flying from the drumsticks. Their self-titled debut released in 2009 benefited from the band’s extensive catalogue of well-practiced demos, recorded with spacious production focusing on bringing out the wide variety of moods the group could create. Their second album, Gangs, adopted a more familiar mix, but fell just shy of being truly memorable when compared to their first album.

All Hail Bright Futures dropped in March of this year, landing squarely in familiar territory. Despite a switch of guitarist and a long break from touring, the album is full of the moshy aggression and tight musicianship we have come to expect, now married to a jubilant mood that covers the whole album in rainbows and sunshine. New guitarist Niall Kennedy gives the cheerful pop riffs of his last band, Panama Kings, a new light, without dumbing down the format of a good instrumental track.

Considering the album’s production, what really seals the deal the range of new guitar sounds, likely inspired by genre contemporaries Battles and Adebisi Shank. Tracks like “AMBULANCE” use a warm, fuzzy, honky-tonk sound akin to the tone of an ice-cream truck piano. This is especially effective when juxtaposed with ASIWYFA’s heavy moments. Gang vocals, chants and weeping synthesisers make a welcome return without removing the focus from the interplay between instruments.

Perhaps what the band loses with this album that was so strong on their previous releases was the ability to create a more varied song. Tracks clock in a little more than 4 minutes, and no longer possess a slow build of ideas or melodies – rather, they dart around, with the attention span of a small child, burning through riffs and noodly math rock passages as if they can’t wait to get it finished. The album’s closer “Young Bright Minds” is a partial response to this, featuring a 7 minute exploration of a riff that doesn’t really compare to their previous epic tracks, like “Don’t Waste Time…” from their self-titled. Rather, the band focuses on one mood throughout the album – relentless delight – and captures it perfectly. That’s very special indeed.