
RELEASED ON 7.2.2025 ON V2 BENELUX VIA SHELSHOCK
CATALOGUE NUMBER VVNLLPE5008
Asphodels, the seventh studio album from The Veils, was recorded live to tape over five days at
Roundhead Studios in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Veils debut album The Runaway Found
turned 20 last year which provided lead singer/songwriter Finn Andrews with a healthy dose of
existential dread. "I feel as though this album is the end result of a now disconcertingly long
career in music," he says. "I think after your 7th album, much like turning 40, you should really
just stop counting. I've learned a lot along the way, which I suppose is the whole point, and I've
really distilled it all into these 9 songs. As always, I really just write about love and death - it's a
compulsion - and that is once again the case here. But I feel as though I've never been able to
express this stuff rattling about in my brain quite as directly until now. I have rarely felt proud of
anything I've made for very long, but this one feels different. It's built on a strong foundation I
think."
The album takes its name from the Ancient Greek flower of the Underworld, and lyrically,
Andrews draws more from the great poets than he does from the well of more traditional rock
and roll songwriters. The collaboration between Andrews and string arranger Victoria Kelly is a
central aspect of the record, and as with the band's previous album "And Out Of The Void Came
Love", Kelly plays an integral role in bringing the songs to life. Andrews says "I really wanted
the string arrangements to behave like another member of the band. We even fleshed the
character out, like an actor playing a role. It's this collaboration with Vic that is really at the
centre of this record I think."
Since being signed to Rough Trade when singer Finn Andrews was 16 years old, The Veils have
released six studio albums and 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.
The Veils made their glorious return to the stage in 2023/24 with sold out shows across Europe,
North America & Australasia. The band will begin touring significantly again in support of
Asphodels in early 2025.
"Refreshingly passionate - Andrews rages with a Herculean intensity." The Guardian
"Horse-whipped, lightning-crash clamour - magnetic." Pitchfork
"One of the finest songwriters of his generation." Drowned in Sound
Tracklisting>>
1. Asphodels
2. O Fortune Teller
3. The Ladder
4. The Dream of Life
5. Mortal Wound
6. The Sum
7. Melancholy Moon
8. Concrete After Rain
9. A Land Beyond