The Veils
6/17/7
Empty Bottle in Chicago
I’ve been looking forward to seeing the five piece known as The Veils ever since 2004’s Runaway Found was released. Led by the charming vocals of Finn Andrews, The Veils are a band that is based between London and New Zealand. This show marked their first in Chicago and it was great to see there was a good turnout for them, who appreciated their songs and clapped hard for an encore.
Finn, dressed in black jacket, black pants, and a black hat had the palest presentation as he hit the stage. The darkness of his attire contributed to the straining verses. At times, it was clear he was so connected to his songs that his breaths became gasps and it wasn’t completely clear whether there was merely sweat running down his face or if the mark of tears was present instead. It reminded me quite a bit of seeing Australia’s Devastations at times in terms of the passion and intensity. At other moments, the solemn ballads were what took over as in the case of “Under the Folding Branches”, coming off a little better in a live setting than on album. Their newest album, Nux Vomica also released on the Rough Trade label, seems to have more of the softer lullabyish songs than The Runaway Found and although it is growing on me, I’ve had much longer with the latter. Because of this, it was slightly disappointing to hear most of the songs from Nux Vomica as I never had a chance to see them on tour before now at a time that they would have played more of their early songs.
Still, there were some definite highlights to the set and it was especially great to see them all get going with Sophia Bum filling in the bass alongside the guitar, keyboards, and drumming. It made for a night that held a sort of catchy desolation and a reprieve from all of the generic rock bands that all sound the same after awhile. Truly, the Veils are something special. Favorites of the night included: “The Wild Son,” “Not Yet,” “Calliope!” and the incredibly sing-songy “Advice for Young Mothers to Be” They also played a new song that rocked out with promise of the next album to come!
View the complete photoset on flickr
Setlist:
