Every now and then, and it happens less often than you can imagine, you stumble upon a piece of art that not only entertains you in a deeply vast way but also alters your perspective on what importance art plays on your mind, your soul. I thought about that when I got sucked into the sonic and visual fray of "No Limit Of Stars" by The Veils from their new double album "And Out Of The Void Came Love". Experiencing the song fresh with a stunning beautifully strange film directed by Alexander Gandar and shot entirely on 16mm film, inspired by the 1970s thriller The Parallax View, catching the sound and vision together felt like a heady fever dream, like performance art.
The song and film is so drenched in deconstructions, in a reverence for vintage imagery not only intercut masterfully elevating and skewering the already existential lyrics (making them bleed more) but highlighting Finn Andrews' artistic look (as well as the band) and pushing them back in time. The textures here feel so organic and the song swirling in agnostic places (in terms of genre defining) that it feels like it could be birthed from any decade since the 1930's. I absolutely adore Finn's vocal countenance. Existing somewhere between a magnetic preacher or moody magician, he has a wonderful lilt and poetic swagger to his voice. The musical bed from sparse framework of sounds to grand exaltations never, ever feels over done. There are otherworldly guitar sounds that bring to mind a fiddle bow on a bent saw, the incredibly potent drum work (an offbeat emotional engine that pushes the narrative like a slave driver), the piano notes hook (ECDA, or thereabouts) repeat throughout and get deeply buried underneath your skin and in the folds of your gray matter. God, once again, I love Finn's voice.
As Press notes remind us, [it’s been seven strange years since The Veils’ last studio album "Total Depravity"] and floating throughout the sinewy muscle of the songs is pain, isolation and birth (literally).
[Following the release of Total Depravity, Andrews released a solo album and began a worldwide tour. One night, while lashing out at a particularly intense moment on piano, he broke his wrist on stage. “It sounds wild and Jerry Lee Lewis-esque, but it was an absolute fucking nightmare,” Andrews says. He played on and finished the rest of the tour, but it wasn’t until he got it examined much later that he realized what a bad move that was. “The scaphoid bone in my wrist had died, which I didn’t know was possible. My sister said that at least it was a really ‘on brand’ injury for me.”
Finn’s convalescence meant a lengthy hiatus from touring, so he did what he does best and stayed at home and wrote songs. “I was in a cast and couldn’t use my right hand. I sang the melody lines, then recorded the right hand piano part, then the left hand part. It might have been an interesting, avant-garde process if it wasn’t also just profoundly annoying.”]
Press Notes further reveal:
[Just when his hand had healed sufficiently for him to play again, The Veils found themselves in need of a new record label but Finn set about starting to make a new record regardless. Producer Tom Healy invited Finn to his small studio underneath the old Crystal Palace ballroom in Mount Eden, and they listened through the legions of songs he had amassed throughout the previous year.
“Tom was incredibly patient, it was a really laborious process - I brought a lot of junk down there and we had to sift through it all to try and find the parts worth saving.”
Following another two years of intermittent recording between lockdowns, Finn’s wife became pregnant, and yet more songs started coming.
“Tom was incredibly patient, it was a really laborious process - I brought a lot of junk down there and we had to sift through it all to try and find the parts worth saving.”
Following another two years of intermittent recording between lockdowns, Finn’s wife became pregnant, and yet more songs started coming.
Composer Victoria Kelly’s soaring string arrangements play an integral role in bringing the songs to life, as do musicians Cass Basil (bass), Dan Raishbrook (lap steel, guitar), Liam Gerrard (piano), Joseph McCallum (drums) the NZTrio and special guests the Smoke Fairies on backing vocals.]
Again, life has a way of knocking you down, of spitting in your face, of beating the shit out of you but also gracing you with unbelievable blessings. "No Limit Of Stars" is an amazing piece of work, another song that I will add to my funeral songs because it is like no other. I like all kinds of music and sometimes as tastes and styles change over the years I thought that the melodrama and real drama and velvet curtains / stage lights of an artist like Bowie had gone away. Evaporated like a mirage on a wet steaming hot open road. It is nice to know that there are still artists, bands who still like to paint their faces and poetry and get dressed up to go to the party.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1MDw0zSUU0XtI9D5JgEZH5
https://www.instagram.com/the_veils/
A Brief History of The Veils
Since being signed to Rough Trade when lead singer Finn Andrews was 16 years old, The Veils have now released six studio albums: The Runaway Found (2004), Nux Vomica (2006), Sun Gangs (2009), Time Stays, We Go (2013), Total Depravity (2016), …And Out Of The Void Came Love (2023) and two EP’s, The Troubles of the Brain (2011) and The Abbey Road EP (2013). Finn’s debut solo album One Piece At A Time was released in 2019. The Veils have toured consistently throughout their twenty year history and garnered a formidable reputation as one of the world’s greatest live bands. They have also been praised by film directors Paolo Sorrentino, Tim Burton and David Lynch who have all used their music on their soundtracks.
Finn now lives in New Zealand with his wife and daughter.
“Refreshingly passionate… Andrews rages with a Herculean intensity.”
The Guardian
“Horse-whipped, lightning-crash clamor… magnetic.”
Pitchfork
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