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In 2019 Ni released their album Pantophobie. It received raving reviews, and so doest their latest, Fol Naïs, released in December 2023. This title is bound to raise a smile for everyone who is familiar with this band. Fol Naïs literally means “born mad” in Old French, or the appellation given to the fools and jesters of history’s great rulers.
This symbol of impertinence couldn’t be more appropriate for this new release from the most unclassifiable of Rhône-Alpes quartets. Complex, dissonant, shaggy, it’s all there. But their formidable inventiveness and unexpected danceability make them a leading light in the French musical niche. Math Rock? Noise? Metal? Jazz? Ni takes another step in their quest for the Holy Grail, displaying as much mischief as wrath.
The Knights Who Say Ni were the keepers of the sacred word, the band Ni however doesn’t need words to impress and conquer. With only music and their energetic live performances as their weapons they leave every audience struck with awe. Ask the audiences at festivals like Roadburn and Complexity, where they had huge success. So get blown away by Ni’s funky freaky and brutal progrock.
“Time for an almost inimitable example of virtuosity that in terms of complexity leaves bands like Don Caballero and Meshuggah behind. Yes, the French from Ni are crazy as hell, who with their album Fol Naïs (old French for ‘born crazy’) take it one step further than they already did with their previous albums. […] Complex for some, exciting for others, it doesn’t affect the French. Bending or cracking. We thoroughly enjoy the many twists and turns of this unique band.” – (Patrick Bruneel, Luminous Dash)
“Ni’s gig was an explosion of heroic and multilevel rock music. Incredible playing is one thing. Incredible playing on half beats, making a fusion of guitar runs and rhythm that may as well have been molten steel, is another. All chakras aligned, the crowd bayed for more. […] There is a Huge Need for this kind of music in our world, as the free and elemental spirit it invokes goes back to Fela Kuti, Funkadelic, The Monks, Dada, even Mesolithic times. You just don’t fully realise it yet.” – Richard Foster, Louder Than War
“Ni are a stunning assault on the senses. The French band deliver a brawl of riffs and post punk jazz with an infernal intensity that is like Jesus Lizard jamming with free jazz angular dissonance and patterns. It may be noisy and demanding but their coolest trick is that it’s delivered with such joy that it brings the whole room with them and also you can dance to it as the colliding riffs twitch your body into strange shapes with infernal and high energy shapes.” – John Robb, Louder Than war
