The Veils - Sun Gangs (2009)

The Veils Sun Gangs Tracks 1. Sit Down By The Fire 2. Sun Gangs 3. The Letter 4. Killed By The Boom 5. It Hits Deep 6. Three Sisters 7. The House She Lived In 8. Scarecrow 9. Larkspur 10. Begin Again

By Chris Wood

After their last record "Nux Vomica", The Veils were a band in a position that is both enviable and, well, not-so enviable.

Having delivered something so promising, music journalists of the world were now pre-creaming their jeans at the very idea of what lay on the horizon for Finn Andrews and his rapscallion gang.

I will agree that The Veils are hardly in a position for the common folk to start shedding out shovel loads of sympathy.

Yet, even those amongst us with the hardest of hearts must at least for one single, solitary moment spare a thought for these artistic urchins who must have felt the full brunt of expectations weigh upon their sharply defined shoulders, and yielded as adoring fans have clutched at their stylish pinstripe suits.

Luckily, any fears that The Veils would succumb to any pressure were completely unfounded as they have backed up the brilliance of "Nux Vomica" with another solid effort in their third LP "Sun Gangs".

With a healthy slather of media attention and plaudits from the usual avenues, The Veils have definitely met expectations, and have arguably surpassed them with uncompromising passion.

A more ambitious effort, you begin to get the feeling as you listen to "Sun Gangs" that they had quite a bit invested in this offering; you get the feeling that there was definitely a lot to lose.

Yet it is with this risk they have taken that makes the reward that bit more delectable.

Finn Andrew's says of the record that it is "a very modern mixture of prayers, love letters and personal record keeping". From these varied forms of record keeping you would assume the end result to be something of a convoluted mix of jangly and irrelevant pop ditties.

Yet, "Sun Gangs" appears to be the most purpose driven of The Veils short, yet illustrated history.

"I really wanted to write something that hangs together in perhaps a not so obvious way; not just some collection of singles but a real voyage into something …strange and unspecific but totally emotionally consuming. It is also kinda just a break up record in many ways".

Sit Down By the Fire, although not there most adventurous song, is easily the best indication of where this band are currently at. It appears that Finn has once again matured considerably as a song writer.

The most pop friendly effort, The Letter, is indicative of this maturation of songwriting whereby there is a noticeable desire to shy away from a conventional and formulaic pop approach. Killed by the Boom is chaotically raw and vicious. This is one of the more endearing features of The Veils, in particular charismatic front man Finn Andrews.

His ability to simultaneously hold onto confident and mature singer and tortured artist personas speaks volumes of his versatility.

Following this is It Hits Deep. Its well tempered afternoon drone is more than capable of sound tracking a mid-afternoon sleep. The House She Lived In draws on influences of sixties pop and acts as another front-runner for possible single release.

Possibly the most intriguing song is eight and a half minute epic Larkspur. With its progressive impulses it borrows from both Tool and Led Zeppelin. After this explosive cerebral journey, we are warmly embraced with Begin Again which sufficiently closes in the most delicate of ways.

The proof that "Sun Gangs" is an improvement on their previous efforts is their lack of instantaneous hits. It is quite possible that a perceived lack of marketability is what drives "Sun Gangs" and gives it a real sense of self and sustainability.

While Calliope! and Advice for Young Mothers to Be were brilliantly well written tracks on "Nux Vomica", having such emphasis on a couple of nominated tracks is to the detriment of the rest of the record.

In the case of "Sun Gangs", having less discernable pop anthems (less that you could really get away with putting on any form of mainstream media) almost allows the listener to understand the record the way in which Finn Andrew’s intended it to be.

Overall, it succeeds in that it has not failed. One would now think that the hunger of the collective Veils audience has been satisfied… for now!

RATING: 4 out of 5

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