About a Photograph

Imagine for a moment that Rob Kloet would be wearing an all-dark outfit as well. Wouldn’t this photograph lose some of its splendour? Rob’s jacket is like the pearl of Vermeer or the light that softly falls into the room from a window. It bears the same tonality – of ochres, siennas and umbers – as the girl with the pearl earring’s scarf – the part that falls down from the top of her head towards her shoulder – , and the dresses of many of the figures Johannes Vermeer painted in a room; it’s like the pale glimmer that shines from the milk that is poured gently into a bowl. Indeed, the details and the colours that this drummer and percussionist brings to the Nits sound can’t be overrated. This photograph renders a wonderful homage to him through the lens of this skilled photographer who seems to be able to capture the mastery of their music in this subtle, classic portrait. Nits are pictured as no-nonsense, sturdy traditionalists who take their art seriously, without pretension or frivolity. I say “traditionalists”, meaning, they inscribe themselves in a long list of masters of music; they seem to have synthesised a lot of their predecessors’ musical heritage – be it pop, rock, jazz or classical composers – into a fine form of musical art or a Dutch or European music sensibility that is quite extraordinary. Nothing stands on its own. Nits are sponges of the world around them: Robert Jan Stips- in what looks like a black velvet topcoat, and with his silver white hair – a marquis of the keyboard in black and white, in all its disguises and configurations; Henk Hofstede, the elegance of music itself – with a touch of free-roaming nonchalance – dressed in only the finest yarns like wool and cashmere. No one stands alone. Nits stand in this lineage of exceptional “Old Masters”.

Joke Roelandt, December 2022