LP Review: ni - Pantophobie (2019) (English)

Don't be afraid! ni are a quartet from Bourg-en-Bresse, in the Eastern part of France. Since 2010 the instrumental artists have released three records, and now, 4 years afters their least publication "Les insurgés de Romilly" we can finally listen to their newest LP. Within a beautiful cover artwork which reminds me of Hieronymus Bosch's pictures there are the two LPs of "Pantophobie". Nine songs, each one named after another phobia. A little less than hour playtime create the holistic concept of pantophoboa - the fear of everything.

ni are one of those bands that are just hard to describe. Is it Jazz Rock, Math Rock, Experimental Instrumental Rock, or is it even instrumental since there are some screams to be heard? The French quartet plays a chequered and sophisticated melange of styles, genres, ideas, rhythms, tempi, and tricks. Changes of metre meet distorted Jazz themes and create a weird freaky collection of clever and demanding music. My favourite example for the band's crazy compositions is the fitfth track called "Catagelophobie" (the fear of derision or mockery). The metre stumbles forward hectically and with great power while both instruments and voices sound like an enormous hick-up that does not want to stop at all. In the second half of the track there is a radical break and it becomes a downbeat Jazz song with high distortion and beatdown parts. This is amazing! And it's only one out of nine titles with lots of variations.

"Pantophobie" will never become boring since each track is so unique and different from the others. Even the songs's structures themselves manage to surprise the audience again and again. Every change of rhythm, metre or style and volume comes on point, and in many cases the breaks are introduced without any premonition. And after all there's that red line that leads its way through the whole album. And it's not just the fact that every single title ends with "-phobie". ni create thrilling arcs of suspense that arise with every title, get more intense until there is some detente at the end of the songs, and the listener gets prepared for the following arc of suspense.

This LP is thrilling and exciting. With every song there's a new fear, new action, and finally another relief in the end. On every single song and with every note they play, ni prove that they know how to create strain, and how to influence the human mind and its emotions with their music. This is a piece of art. Seriously. There might be moments when this is not the right record to listen to, but there are also many reasons to put these beautiful discs on your record player, and dance some fear away.