Kevin Bronson on June 2nd, 2016

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The Veils, who have released four albums and two EPs of darkly majestic rock music since 2004, today released a head-turner of a new single. It’s titled “Axolotl” (named for the amphibian commonly known as a “walking fish” that’s found in Mexico), a pulsing, menacing track that will appear on the Veils’ new album “Total Depravity,” due Aug. 26 via Nettwerk. The album, shaped over two years at locations including London, Portugal, Los Angeles and New York, features production by Veils frontman Finn Andrews, Adam “Atom” Greenspan and rapper/producer/runner of the jewels El-P, who worked on “Axolotl.”

Says Andrews: “A crucial aspect of this album has been the involvement El-P who I met outside a bar in downtown L.A. … He introduced himself firstly as a sincere fan of our band, and we got to talking about music and all the good stuff. The very next day we ended up at his friend Wilder’s house in Eagle Rock and we wrote and produced the song ‘Axolotl.’ The vocal was sung directly into the keyboard of a laptop and was all completed very quickly.”

Andrews, who is one of the musicians who will appear in David Lynch’s resuscitation of “Twin Peaks” for Showtime, said it was the first time he has written songs “using mutilated loops and sounds as a starting point.” “Total Depravity’s” subject matter also seems eclectic: “There is a large cast of characters on this record,” he says. “L. Ron Hubbard, axolotls of course, kind-natured crocodiles, a psychotic truck driver, the Pope and Ingrid Bergman all get a look in.”

||| Stream: “Axolotl”