Finn Andrews of The Veils carries a torch for Arvo Pärt

Finn Andrews’ recommendation: “I remember the first CD I ever picked up and inspected was Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa – to be honest I was more into Michael Jackson and The Time, but my mum and dad played Arvo all the time and I remember thinking how it sounded like the most ancient thing I’d ever heard. I used to make weird little movies as a kid and just wander around my mum’s house filming the bookshelves for ages and Arvo was always the soundtrack. It just made sense.

It pisses me off when mid-paced Indie bands say stuff like “Coltrane was our primary influence” so I’m keen to avoid sounding like that by name dropping a classical artist. I figure I get around this because a) we ain’t no mid-paced Indie band and b) though Arvo is technically ‘Classical’ he has never sounded specifically ‘Classical’ to me. You can hear elements of him in some of Brain Eno’s self generative stuff, and in The Arcade Fire, and in our stuff too. There’s a great little interview that Björk did with him (also one of the great Umlaut faceoffs) where she says his music reminds her of Pinocchio and the cricket and he agrees and says his music is always a call and response between his sins and a kind of divine conscience. I really liked that and man oh man that’s exactly how it sounds.”

Find out more about the Arvo Pärt.

New to Arvo Pärt? Start here: “Start with Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa. It might just be the most stirring Estonian neo-classical fever dream you ever experience.”

About the guest author, Finn Andrews: Finn is the son of Barry Andrews, the keyboard player for XTC. Finn’s own band, The Veils, most recently put out Sun Gangs, a collection that Drowned in Sound hailed as, “…the most compelling chapter in The Veils story yet.” The Veils’ website shows that the band toured in early 2010 (New York Magazine said of their show, “The combination on that stage is magical and a sight not to be missed”) and are now recording a new album. Be on the look out for that as its sure to be another strong offering from the band that is clearly on its way to getting a bigger buzz.

MP3 Audio recorded by Finn between tours in 2009: Turn From The Rain