Wandering unassumingly onto the stage of Northcote Social Club, The Veils front man and creative force Finn Andrews takes a seat before his piano. The small, intimate crowd is silent with anticipation as the rest of the band take up their positions. They are back in Australia to tour Asphodels, their critically acclaimed 7th album, and after a short introductory hello the piano comes to life with the opening notes of Mortal Wound.
From here the setlist drifts through a number of tracks from the beautifully stripped back new album including singles O Fortune Teller and The Ladder. The highlight of these early songs though was The Dream Of Life, a gorgeously hopeful but melancholic ballad performed with the tenderness that exemplifies the shift in tone that the whole album represents to what one would typically expect from a Veils record.
After this more considered and understated opening, we move into more familiar territory with Swimming With Crocodiles, A Birthday Present and the hauntingly eerie and abstruse Birds.
But it is the blazingly agitated renditions of Not Yet and Here Come The Dead that demand attention at this mid point of the set. With screeching guitars and anxious vocals, the audience is held utterly transfixed. Black suited with wide brim hat, Andrews calls to mind an apocalyptic preacher reaching out to the sky and drenched in the blood red lights, not so much performing the songs as allowing his body and powerfully vulnerable voice to be possessed by the music. Comparisons to Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, and a touch of David Bowie prove well deserved as Finn Andrews channels the anxiety and emotional contours of every song with an energy and delicacy that feels true and authentic in a way you don’t often see.
Returning to the piano the pace slows down once more for Asphodels and the sublime No Limit Of Stars from 2023 album …And Out Of The Void Came Love, before a surprise track in My Foolish Heart, straight from the studio and the recently completed recording sessions for their next album. The heart wrenchingly poetic Concrete After Rain proves to be the calm before the storm of show closer Nux Vomica, performed with such raw intensity of energy and aggression that the screeching guitar tones set your teeth on edge.
Coming back out on stage alone, Andrews returns to the piano to perform stripped back solo renditions of long time audience favourite The Tide That Left And Never Came Back (from debut album The Runaway Found) followed by Rings Of Saturn, before the band members once again take to the stage and launch into a version of Axolotl retooled as a hard, pulsing piano number. With hands crashing down aggressively into piano keys and the harsh violin screaming in the background, the show came to a joyous and chaotic end that left the audience in no doubt that they had just witnessed something pretty special.
With the revelation of a new album coming soon and the promise of a renewed dedication to come back to Melbourne for future tours, if you missed out on last night make sure to keep your eye on their Instagram page to stay updated on upcoming releases and tour plans.
Written by Lee Crawford.