Recorded live to tape over three consecutive weekends in Auckland's Roundhouse Studios, Fragile World feels instinctive – like an unburdening, both spiritually and musically.
Most songs were written before The Veils hit the studio, but decisions were yet to be made about how it would all sound. Finn Andrews and Tom Healy play most of the instruments, with drummer/percussionist Joseph McCallum joining them on occasion.
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Aurora was inspired by, and named after, a geomagnetic storm that raged over parts of New Zealand. Written and recorded simultaneously the same day this natural light show transpired, Aurora opens with delicate piano. “Falling baaaack to Earth/ You’re so far from me now…” – Andrews sounds utterly crestfallen here. Sparse drum thwacks enter. Then meticulously played percussion motifs cut through, precise as recorded loops: “And I lose a little time/ And I gain a little back/ Trying to make it up for some/ Of every part of it I lack…”
The measured, piano-led High Hopes is giving Nick Cave: “Oh my love, my love, my love, my love/ I look on you like the ocean.”
“You’re not like anyone I’ve met/ You’re not like anyone I’ve seen” – with its hopeful, heart-racing keys (think: Arcade Fire), Lungs massages the heart’s inner chambers.
The haunting, Springsteen-esque Are You Awake Tonight? rolls out intrusive regrets: “Seems like all my ambition has arrived too late/ I left far too much up to the hands of fate…”
From birdsong and windchimes to gently jogging beats, New Day sweeps us off our feet: “The only part that feels right/ In this unjust world.” This song’s closing minute-and-a-half – driven by hopeful, propulsive drumming – truly takes flight, like running barefoot through a field with your favourite person/pet.
Andrews has described Little White Bird (Fragile World) as being “kinda like Nina Simone and Arthur Russell having a little dance”. We reckon they’re sharing a dancefloor with Bryan Ferry, too. “Oh, oh, oh oh,” Andrews vocalises, like a chirruping woodland creature, and it’s somehow not cringe.
The Widening Dark hovers like a blanket of smoke over a lake.
Atop stately piano, My Foolish Heart acquiesces at a swaying pace: “Take me to the edge I know I don’t wanna stay,” Andrews sings, sounding resigned. Shiny guitar lines soon bring glimmers of hope.
Sinéad O’Connor’s In This Heart – the first cover to appear on a Veils record – closes Fragile World in funereal mode, grieving the loss of a once-in-a-lifetime love.
Andrews is a genius wordsmith – his lyrics exquisite poems unto themselves: “You remind of all the lines I could not save/ You remind me of every lost dream I’ve had along the way/ Well, it’s a sentiment espoused in rhyme that I just can’t condone” – we’re not worthy.
Label: V2 Records · Release: out now
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