The Veils

I've been looking forward to this album for quite a while now. I think I probably liked the single Guiding Light more than Alex who reviewed it below. In fact, I thought the Veils sounded like one of the best indie guitar bands I had heard for ages. The latest single The Wild Son starts this album and I liked it but felt no passion. It's followed by Guiding Light so I'm happy again to hear that. From then on the album just evolves into an example of lush, passionate music. It's played so intensely and they try and pack in everything they have ever learnt into their first album.

It sounds to me as though the Veils have two sides to them - one is softer with added strings and comes out like an updated Verve while the other cranks up the guitar. I think that as a out and out guitar band they are magicians. Whichever way they decide to go, this is a band to grace to British music scene with style and extreme talent.

Whilst on first impressions Veils singer Finn Andrews seems one of those singers who likes to sing like he's 50 years older than he actually is and hasn't cleared his throat. This, however, becomes inconseqential when the song he is singing is the immediately catchy 'Guiding Light'. "There goes my guiding light" he croaks over what would appear a regular indie tune but actually has an X-factor it is impossible to ignore. Elsewhere the 2nd track, the pleading 'Need I Water' exibits Andrews' ability to soften his voice to a tone evocative of Thom Yorke's melancholic tones. The last track belongs in the middle of britpop and probably is nicked from a Hurricaine #1 record. So there we are, The Veils our new guiding lights.