Finn Andrews

As leader of U.K.-based indie rock group the Veils since the early 2000s, Finn Andrews released five charting albums and performed on TV's Twin Peaks (2017) before releasing his first solo album. The more intimate material of One Piece at a Time (2018) put even more focus on Andrews' emotive delivery and lyrical songwriting style. Raised partly in his birthplace of London, England and partly in suburban Auckland, New Zealand, Finn Andrews grew up in a family that valued art and music, and started playing the guitar at the age of ten. The son of keyboardist Barry Andrews (XTC, Shriekback), he eventually added piano to his repertoire. As a student at Takapuna Grammar School outside of Auckland, he took to the local folk scene and to the works of songwriters like Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, and Tom Waits. He headed to London to pursue a career in music at the of 16. A couple of years later, in 2001, Andrews formed the Veils with guitarist Oliver Drake, bass player Adam Kinsella, and drummer Ben Woollacott. After initially signing with the ill-fated Blanco y Negro imprint, the resulting The Runaway Found was eventually released by Rough Trade in 2004. The folk-tinged album charted in the Netherlands, reaching number 65. Andrews returned to New Zealand and rehearsed with former schoolmates Sophia Burn (bass) and Liam Gerard (keyboards) before taking them back to London with him to join a revamped Veils that also included guitarist Dan Raishbrook and drummer Henning Dietz. The more expansive sophomore album Nux Vomica arrived on Rough Trade in 2006. The Veils charted again in the Netherlands and peaked at number 26 in New Zealand. They made the charts in the same two countries again with 2009's Sun Gangs, which was recorded without Gerard. The Veils then parted ways with Rough Trade, and in 2011 they released the EP Troubles of the Brain on Andrews' own Pitch Beast Records. Recorded in Laurel Canyon, their fourth studio LP, Time Stays, We Go, followed in 2013 and was accompanied by an extensive world tour. Andrews joined forces with El-P and Nick Cave collaborator Adam Greenspan to produce their Nettwerk debut, Total Depravity. It became their highest-charting album to that point, hitting the Top 20 in New Zealand (and the Dutch Top 40) upon its release in 2016. That same year, Andrews was commissioned by the Belgian government to compose an orchestral piece in commemoration of Australians and New Zealanders killed in World War I. Around that time, Andrews also began collecting songs he'd been setting aside that didn't quite fit onto the albums he'd recorded with his band. After performing their song "Axolotl" on an August 2017 episode of David Lynch's Twin Peaks, the Veils took a break so that Andrews could work on his first solo album. With an arrangement highlighted by piano and strings, the singer/songwriter-styled ballad "Love, What Can I Do?" teased 2019's One Piece at a Time that August. The album was co-produced by Tom Healy (the Verlaines, She's So Rad).
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