Two decades into their career, The Veils continue to operate in a space entirely their own — a place where intensity, vulnerability and cinematic drama collide. Their new single “Aurora” arrives as another reminder that Finn Andrews and company remain one of the most emotionally fearless bands working today.
The track is deceptively simple on the surface: a stark piano figure, Andrews’ unmistakable voice layered into ghostly harmonies, and a sense of stillness that feels almost suspended in time. But beneath that quiet exterior lies something deeper. Andrews reveals that “Aurora” was written in real time as it was being recorded — a rare moment of pure instinct. On the same day, a massive geomagnetic storm lit up New Zealand’s skies, and the images of the aurora became a kind of cosmic mirror for the song’s clarity. “Sometimes things are so beautifully simple,” he reflects.
Just over a year after the hushed introspection of Asphodels, The Veils return with Fragile World, out June 19 via V2 Records — and it marks a dramatic shift in tone. Where Asphodels whispered, Fragile World raises its voice.
Recorded live to tape in New Zealand with engineer Paddy Hill and producer Tom Healy (Folk Bitch Trio, Tiny Ruins, The Chills), the album captures the band in a raw, instinctive state. Andrews describes it as a deliberate counterpoint to its predecessor: “Asphodels was so quiet and introspective, I think I just wanted to make something strident and full of life for a goddamn change.”
That urgency runs through the album’s DNA. Andrews and Healy handled most of the instrumentation themselves, with Joseph McCallum joining at key moments. With little pre‑planning and only a few weeks in the studio, the record took shape through instinct rather than design — a process Andrews calls “exciting, full‑on, and scary at times… but a good kind of scary.”
The album’s name, Fragile World, resonates on multiple levels. It speaks to the instability of the present moment — a time when institutions, systems, and certainties seem to be crumbling. But it also reflects the delicate nature of creation itself: thousands of tiny decisions, each one shaping the final form of a song.
That tension — between chaos and craft, collapse and creation — is where The Veils thrive.
Since signing to Rough Trade at just 16, Finn Andrews has carved out a singular path. Across eight studio albums — from the explosive Nux Vomica to the noir‑tinged Total Depravity and the recent emotional excavation of Asphodels — The Veils have built a catalogue defined by evolution rather than repetition.
Their music has drawn praise from directors like Paolo Sorrentino, Tim Burton and David Lynch, who have all woven The Veils’ songs into their cinematic worlds. And on stage, the band’s reputation is equally formidable, with sold‑out tours across Europe, North America and Australia.
