Biography by Joseph Ghosn • Picture by Terence Hassen.
Rhythms rise in a whirlwind of air, haunting reverberations like happy immortal ghosts. Melodies float through your mind, played from far corners of the planet. The new NLF3 album ‘O Days‘ both develops and refines the rich story of this French band, a story that began with resurrection. At the end of their first band Prohibition, in 1999, the Laureau brothers turned towards a new musical vein, choosing a disjointed, sincere and free path still fed by the same inspirational roots as was their previous band: music born from an idea of Rock, but with a more flexible and ethereal framework, open to all possibilities and all horizons.
Twenty years ago, NLF3 emerged with a strong curiosity about other forms and aesthetics and a commitment to integrating a wide diversity of sounds, in harmony with the natural evolution of the band members’ tastes and desires. The early recordings bear witness to both an era and a singularity. Drawing on the contemporary, the first records under this name aimed for the middle of a river whose opposite shores held pure abstraction… and hypnotic rhythm. NLF3 recorded for the film ‘Que Viva Mexico’ and hit that sweet spot, creating a rich and atmospheric soundscape. Never seduced by the sirens of the industry, they have continued creating independently, a crucible forever capable of mixing contrasting elements.
The mysterious strength of their rhythm– is it from their brotherhood? Something catchy in their compositions, the centrifugal and hypnotic effect– a “choose your own adventure” philosophy from their origins?
Now, in 2024, how does NLF3 look? How does the era look to them? In this new album, O Days, NLF3 explores novel ways and takes reinvented roads. Started during Lockdown, O Days was initially a series of exchanged files, tinkered with at home. On these demos, we heard domestic noises and recorded rhythms inspired by intimate possibilities. Did these sounds stay on the final album? Yes, in the very material of the pieces which live like universes filled with sounds and circuits. Together they form a pulsating cosmogony, but also, by the force of repetition, become meditative.
Fans of the German band CAN or certain Brazilians like Os Mutantes will recognize a familiar sound, reborn but devoid of nostalgia, inhabited by a thirst to be in this world and inscribed directly in the very matrix of reality, pushing you to dream and dance at the same time.
What is NLF3 about today?
N: It’s all about freedom and experimentation, memories plus future.
F: it is still the name of this musical project started in 2000 which is an entity almost alchemical and which now unconsciously is synonymous for us with a ground for exploration and experimentation shared by three complementary sensitivities. We never forbid ourselves anything while being in a relationship of trust.
How to place this album in your discographies, in group and solo?
F: It’s a particular album which is marked by its time: it was built during departure during confinement very spontaneously from day to day hence the title (O Days), by laying the foundations (2/3 tracks each) on ideas first sent by Nicolas. Then we reworked and re-recorded a lot of things. With this desire to evoke, to transport.
N: it’s the most accomplished album of the period 2008 – 2024, a sort of crucible- assembly of the three of us, in the DNA of the group.
What musical future does this album announce?
F: We never really know where we are going. Complicity, energy and the opening are characteristic of the moments we spend together, and create and bounce back on our ideas. These are absolutely unique moments in the life of a musician. We all have our solo projects which also allow us to bring to NLF3 new ideas. It’s exciting every time. I like to think about the palette of sounds and how we can enrich or simplify what we want to inject into our music. Instrumental music also allows a lot of things. It is therefore an adventure that can continue for a long time.
N: The future is uncertain but like the phoenix, NLF3 is always reborn at some point.
F: 2024 and 2025 mark the 20th anniversary of Que viva Mexico! that we will probably replay at the 30 years of our label Prohibited Records created in ’95.
This makes me think that our independence is probably one of the secrets of our duration.
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Recorded and mixed by NLF3 in various places, including Studio des Taisnières, Lyons-La-Forêt, and Salon de Musique(s), Pantin, France, 2020-2024. This album was started during lockdown of 2020 in France. Prince One was formely entitled Day 1, as the very first day of lockdown. The other tracks were called Day 6, Day 7, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 14. Some sounds and takes from this period still feature on this record.
Fabrice Laureau : bass, kalimba, synth.
Nicolas Laureau : guitars, keys, vocals, can, beatbox.
Jean-Michel Pirès : drums.
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In the press
FR "The French space-rock-kraut outfit just nails it with every new album. They seem to be from a parallel universe anyway, so hopefully at least there NLF3 will lead the charts for weeks to come." 9/10 LOWNDOWN MUSIC
