Lazuli reveal they're working on their "atmospheric" 11th album

Lazuli group shot 2022 against black background

(Image credit: Press)

Lazuli have revealed they're working on the studio follow-up to 2020's Le Fantastique Envol De Dieter Böhm. The Beatles-mad French proggers will return to their studio L'Abeille Rôde in the autumn to resume work on the record. It'll be their first with new guitarist Arnaud Beynaud.

"The pandemic left us in a state of shock, then slowly the introspection it allowed, triggered a writing crisis," explains vocalist/guitarist Dominique Leonetti. "I composed a lot during this period.

"The imprint of the atmosphere of recent years is present in the colour of this future album [and it contains] a mixture of withdrawal and dreams of liberty. The lyrics are sometimes dark and melancholy but notes seek to extricate themselves from their fate. Maybe something more atmospheric than usual."

Brothers Claude and Dominique led five recording sessions in early 2022, although progress on the new tracks has been suspended while they're on tour.

The French group reconnected in 2021 for Dénudé, which contained stripped-down reworkings of some of their songs. They return to the UK this autumn with a number of live dates, including a performance at Summer’s End festival in October 2022. Say the band, “We can't wait to get back to Beatles country!”

Watch a post-show clip from their July 2022 appearance at Germany's Night Of The Prog below and scroll down for their UK tour dates.

Lazuli 2022 UK tour

Oct 09: Swindon Level 3
Oct 11: Liverpool The Cavern Club
Oct 12: Glasgow Ivory Blacks
Oct 13: Newcastle Think Tank
Oct 15: Oundle Queen Victoria Hall
Oct 16: Chepstow Summer’s End Festival
Oct 17: London 229 The Venue

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.