Lazuli

The French band Lazuli embodies prog rock with world-music influences—mystical, lyrical, progressive, and rock-driven. Here, elements of progressive rock, chanson, folk, and world music converge to create distinctive sounds and thunderous percussion. For those seeking comparisons for this inherently incomparable music, perhaps the description 'King Crimson meets Peter Gabriel' can provide a rough explanation. Lazuli draw on an extraordinary array of instruments: marimba and vibraphone are rare on rock stages, and yet these instruments are not as remarkable as the string instrument called Leode, which Lazuli have developed themselves and of which there is only this single specimen in the world. The band's sound is thus enriched by a completely new, hitherto unheard sonic cosmos. The upcoming tour, including a concert on 23 October 2027 at the Music Hall Worpswede, bears the title of the current album of the same name Être et ne plus être (Being and No Longer Being), which will be released on 30 January 2026. The band describes the essence of the album in their characteristic manner: Step by step, fall by fall, a day in darkness, another in openness, head over heels, tossed about by the twists of a roller coaster ride, we tinkled guitars, scratched on paper with a pencil, built, deconstructed and rebuilt; we spent time and did not see it pass, hours of exploration, doubt, wandering, encounters with our monsters and phantoms, rising from gravity into heavenly spaces, euphoria and melancholy, dexterity and clumsiness, seeking our way or losing ourselves at the edge of a precipice, balancing on the brink, filled with certainties or surrendering our fate to chance ... what a chaotic process! All of this truly resembles life, like many seeds sown into micro grooves ... and twelve songs are born. Again this is the fruit of our collective womb, a little more organized noise, interrupted by sighs and silence, and finally another record to spin. The concerts Lazuli have performed across Europe thus far have left audiences astonished, and critics have spoken very positively. Ex-Marillion frontman Fish spontaneously joined the band on tour as a support act after seeing them at the Night of the Prog Festival. Lazuli have earned a name with a discerning and appreciative audience. Lazuli are a band for curious people. Those who engage with this music will be rewarded for their openness.