Munster Express Online

The Choice Music Award was established as an annual event in 2005 to pick the best Irish album of the previous year from a shortlist of 10. Based on artistic merit rather than sales, it is seen as the equivalent of the Mercury Music prize in the UK.

The 2010 award will be presented at a special gig in Vicar St. on 3rd March when all 10 acts will perform a short live set. Belfast alternative rock band, And So I Watch You From Afar, are the clear favourites at 3/1 against more established acts like Bell X1, The Swell Season, Laura Izibor, The Duckworth Lewis Method and newer acts like Codes, Dark Room Notes, Adrian Crowley, Julie Feeney and Valerie Francis, who completes the list of nominees.

And So I Watch You From Afar make their highly anticipated Waterford debut at Electric Avenue on Sat 13 Feb.

And So I Watch You From Afar (aka ASIWYFA) pound out high-energy guitar driven instrumental post-rock, that combines the sonic sophistication of Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai, the heaviness of Pelican and the melodic/rhythmic complexity of Battles. But to say this band is derivative would be grossly unfair, ASIWYFA is their own band with a sound that’s distinctly their own. The debut album is an embarrassment of riches, an album littered with powerful riffs, mind-bending grooves, virtuoso performances and intricate arrangements. Track highlights include “Set Guitars to Kill”, “I Capture Castles,” and “Clench Fists, Grit Teeth…GO!”