Spaceland has a star, and his name is Finn Andrews, front man and innovator of the British pop-noir band, the Veils.
If the road to art is hard and winding (which it couldn’t be for the progeny of XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews), then Finn is irked by every moment of it. With a series of spectacles including unyielding photographic flashes, Blackberries, and iPhones galore, and a crowd of bar-hanging PRs throughout the Veils’ set, the venue seemed like it could have had more press than that night’s Feist show at the Wiltern.
This could be surprising considering how little an impact their first record with the current line-up has had (Andrews’ second under the Veils moniker) compared to other monster albums released (or leaked) this year. But somehow, the Veils manage to capture a strain of energy that is sometimes lacking on Nux Vomica. Andrews himself, desperately thin in his oversized blazer and “denim-stockings,” noted that “This is freaking us out a little bit – we were expecting like 20 people.” But was no longer an issue at hand at Spaceland. The only thing bloody apparent in the venue is that Finn is a born natural, and while it may at times seem like he is plagued by themes in his own songwriting, he may not yet be aware it is the only affirmation that carries him through, making his outspoken wardrobe choices not only believable, but it instantly inextricable from his demeanor, pleading eyebrows and involuntary spastic onstage countenance alike.
Thus with a set charged with the dark jangles from the band’s early 2007 release, Nux Vomica, the Veils charmed the crowd, which at times flocked to him like fireflies, other times lingering back in silent admiration. One guy turned me around after spotting my notebook, asking me if I liked the band because he had no idea who the Veils were, and that he “got dragged into it…all my friends couldn’t shut up about this damn show.” The pop counterpart to the noir always served a relief from the brooding U.K. darkness that is so eminent on Nux Vomica, giving such aforementioned audience members a necessary upbeat relief. But it became clear that Finn and Co. is built for the seething, underplayed teeth grinding riffs of songs like “Jesus for the Jugular” and “Pan”.
But it really is just that Finn is a persona more than anything else, a musical spectacle that did not stop being photographed all night, howling against riffs and upbeat piano signatures. Everything from his desperate guitar-neck clutching to his hat recalled a stink of an old musical cowboy (think Jeff Buckley meets Nick Cave), making the rest of the band (rookies, no doubt) seem like mere accompanists.
The crowd all suffered to do the same, resting assured of their choice to ditch the $40 + service charges that would have been incurred seeing Feist had they not taken a moment to see what else was going on in Los Angeles that night.
The Veils:
"Advice for Young Mothers to Be" – [mp3]
www.theveils.com
