51 Shapes of Nits: The 44th shape is a piece of white paper

The Joy of Art

The universe of Nits is an entire world in itself. It is as if it created everything anew. In all their albums and video work they conceive a musical and pictorial language that recreates (their) life in this world. It almost feels like a meta-project if it all weren’t so fabulously natural in its development. Like these worlds that are artificially created on screens. But this one – the Nits game – is different. It is a form of art in my opinion, about being alive. It winds its way naturally around the elements that constitute a life. But still it originates from a piece of white paper, or an empty iPad screen, a line of untouched piano keys, a box full of colouring tools, the blackness of a camera screen, the strings of a guitar lying in wait …

Nits celebrate the joy of art. When you see and hear them play, you get this sense that they revel in their special art of making music. Even in their most intuitive and spur-of-the-moment melodies, there is something reflective present. Something that returns to itself, that thinks about itself, that speaks about itself. A sort of reflectivity that is very uncommon in their neck of the woods as pop artists and it makes them stand out once more. In the enjoyable activity that is their music making, Nits honour the joy of art. Not only by commemorating various artists and their work, but more importantly by infusing their music with the bug of art, with the characteristics of creating something in a very sophisticated and skilled language of their own, which proposes a new, beautifully shaped look at the world in all its facets. Indeed in the way of a true Artist, not just as musicians. Nits fabricated their own view of life through the games their music plays.

What strikes me time and time again is the simplicity and the inevitability of their creations. When seeing the world around them and living in the midst of it all, this is what they come up with … spontaneously so to speak. I have the impression that this is particularly the case for Henk Hofstede and Rob Kloet – I heard Robert Jan say in an interview that he was never so involved with or concerned about the images and pictorial work of Nits; the latter’s ingenuity is one that goes straight from the mind to the keyboard. But as a whole the music of Nits is very much mediated by world and all its shapes and forms which Nits then metamorphose into songs. Something quite extraordinary results from it. A completely unique musical language that has the world in mind and wants to celebrate its beauty mostly. The music tells their story of being alive in the world, somewhat idealised for sure, accentuating the formal beauty of the world, but isn’t that what many great artists have done? Amongst them the impressionists that Henk sings about in the Malpensa song “Paper”.

You can always feel this sort of awe in their music, this sense of wonder for the world and for being alive, it never fails to show up in their songs. The miniaturist song “Paper” also has this little intermezzo where the world makes an appearance and does a sweet intrusion once more (just after one minute into the song), with what sounds like a fresh scene of nature of rustling leaves of a tree with birds in it.

What is it exactly that Nits are doing through their music? Telling stories, yes for sure, making fairytales, yes sometimes, but their songs almost never have the cruel aspects that fairytales often boast, experimenting with music, yes, but never for its own sake and always harking back to the tactile world, exploring the language of pop music, certainly but there is more to it. There’s always the idea of a tender worship of world and of life; this always prevails. And that is quite exceptional too. Nits are custodians or “pastors” of the beauty – and even the integrity – of the world. Anyone who has attended one of their concerts knows how different the world can feel after you’ve watched and heard them play. A social gathering that means something, that comforts and inspires. Something out-of-this-world has happened indeed. Something that brings us back into our world with a new sense of being alive in a wondrous universe. What Nits left behind is a mirror of joy. The joy of music, the joy of art, the joy of being alive in this world.

Through their very personal way of making music Nits emphasise that they are happy and thankful for the presence of art in all of our lives. The joy of colour, the joy of form. And their ability to make the world a more beautiful place. The joy to create and to remember what is worth holding on to…

Joke Roelandt, November 2025