New Zealand-based indie legends The Veils have returned after a seven year long absence with news of a double album ‘…And Out of the Void Came Love’ and a new single ‘No Limit of Stars’ to whet the appetite.
The single is a rich, luxurious delight – delivered with a preacher-like intensity that recalls Nick Cave on the pulpit, and cloaked in an anthemic statuesque finery with sweeping strings and shimmering, sparkling instrumentation. This is a grand presentation: an ebbing and flowing sonic embrace with an endless horizon and a celestial glory. ‘No Limit of Stars’ has the passion and euphoric glory of The National with an antipodean flavour that nods to the pop sensibilities of The Chills.
Finn Andrews says the track reflects the themes of his songwriting going into recording the new album:
…the certainty of death, the power of new life, and the dizziness of contemplating your place in an unknowably vast cosmos.
Indeed, the song is expansive and thrilling: bold and imperial with a presence as awe-inspiring as the limitless universe.
Andrews – an enigmatic figure who was signed to Rough Trade at the age of sixteen – is a mesmerising figure fronting the band in the accompanying video directed by Alexander Gandar and produced by Frith Armstrong. Daubed in lush colours and against a stunning backdrop of the night skies and an engrossing melange of images projected on a screen, it is a compelling and immersive film that perfectly matches the celestial music.
The band’s absence was the result of a series of unfortunate events.
Following the release of The Veils’ last album ‘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,
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.
Andrews’s convalescence meant a lengthy hiatus from touring, so he 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.
The years of pent up creativity has resulted in a double album, beautifully entitled ‘And Out Of The Void Came Love’, hinting at a powerful resolve to the wilderness years. It is an album intended to be listened to in two sittings with a short break in the middle, or as Andrews instructs:
Make a coffee or smoke a cigarette – but don’t mow the lawn or go to the movies or something, that takes too long.
On the basis of this little amuse bouche of a single, this will be something to look forward to. You can pre-order the album through the link below – available digitally on 1 February 2023..
The Veils are:
Finn Andrews – Vocals and Guitar
Cass Basil – Bass
Tom Healy – Pedal steel
Joe McCallum – Drums
Liam Gerrard – Piano
