French prog quintet Lazuli have announced they have rescheduled all their proposed live dates to 2022. At the same time, the band have set a release date for their upcoming semi-acoustic album Dénudé (which translates as naked, denuded) on March 16.
The studio album was created during lockdown in response to the lack of live appearances and cancelled tours. This will be the first recording featuring Arnaud Beynay who replaced guitarist, Ged Byar, in the summer of 2020.
“In March of last year we naively thought that the pause in our lives would last a few weeks, at worst a few months," exclaims singer Dominique Leonetti. "A year later we’re still waiting to restart our journey across the wasteland…our UK tour has been put back again until March 2022. But we travel in hope in the face of Covid, Brexit and whatever else life throws at us.
"While we waited for better days to arrive we came up with two solutions: We could spend our time navel gazing or take advantage of this pause to do all the things we had never got round to doing. We decided to unplug our instruments and reconnect with our listeners so we’ve recorded acoustic versions of songs taken from our first 8 albums and on March 16th our album Dénudé will be released. This date is really significant for us as it will be exactly a year since our last concert (in Southampton). Dénudé, brings together 16 acoustic (or not) tracks.
"Maybe it’s more accurate to describe them as pared down or stripped back. It’s an album to fill the pause, a Lockdown album, much closer to my original compositions, much more connected to how I feel when I’m writing. You’ll hear these versions whisper to you or maybe take you back to their roots. They’ll give you another angle on our music."
The band's new tour dates, originally rescheduled for March 2021, remain dependent on whether the repercussions of Brexit allow for it to be financially viable. All purchased tickets remain valid.
Lazuli rescheduled tour dates for 2022.
Feb 28: Cambridge Portland Arms
Mar 1: Newcastle Think Tank
Mar 2: Glasgow Ivory Blacks
Mar 3: Liverpool The Cavern
Mar 5: Stourport Fusion Festival
Mar 6: Southampton 1865
Mar 7: London 229 The Venue
