With FRANCIS OF DELIRIUM's debut album 'Lighthouse' a little over a month away, Jana Bahrich is opening up and hoping it takes her to Hobbiton. Check out the latest cover story for our New Music Friday playlist edit, The Cut.

Words: Stephen Ackroyd.
Photos: Holly Whitaker.

In a world where stale authenticity and overwrought emotion are so often held up as the currency of the realm, Francis of Delirium crackles with a spark of genuine artistry. With the release of latest single 'Give It Back To Me' and the anticipation building around debut album 'Lighthouse', there's a palpable sense of excitement about what's coming next.

Jana Bahrich, the creative force behind Francis of Delirium, has already made waves with three critically acclaimed EPs: 'All Change', 'Wading', and 'The Funhouse'. These records, brimming with raw alt-rock excitement, angst, and grunge darkness, have set the stage for the project's evolution. With 'Lighthouse', the sound is shifting to embrace a more vulnerable and open sonic palette, weaving in elements that resonate universally. The album, with tracks like 'Real Love' and 'First Touch' produced by Catherine Marks (Boygenius, Wolf Alice) and the rest self-produced with frequent collaborator Chris Hewett, already feels like a potential future favourite.

On a seemingly ordinary day, filled with simple pleasures, Jana is doing pretty well. "I had a pretty chill day," she shares as we set the stage. "It's quite warm out, like 13 degrees, so I was able to bike around without a jacket, which I like because jackets make me sweat too much, even if it is cold. I work at a radio station every Thursday, so I hosted my show and then went for a swim at the pool nearby. I used to run quite a lot, but I'm trying to choose swimming over running now; I feel like running makes me sick. Every time I run, the day after I wake up, I have a cold. I don't know if it's related or just a coincidence, but I'm trying to abstain from running these days."

It's an obvious line, but there's no need to run when you're rising as quickly as Jana currently is. The latest teaser of the forthcoming album, 'Give It Back To Me' stands out not just as a song but as a statement of solidarity and support within a community. "It's about showing up for your loved ones when you can and being able to lean on them when you need to," Jana explains. The track, born from a session where Jana stood, guitar in hand, in a makeshift vocal booth, marks a departure from her usual songwriting process. "Normally, I sit down while writing songs, but the day we were writing 'Give It Back To Me', I was standing in this little vocal booth set up at Chris' house. I wrote a lot of the album on acoustic guitar, but that day, I was using my little red Fender Telecaster. I tuned it down to drop C, and the song just kind of exploded into the room. I really love a song with a slow build, so it's been a form I've been trying to get right for a while."

'Lighthouse''s closing track, Jana reflects, "It feels like a really anthemic and hopeful way to end the album. By putting it at the end, I wanted to show how after you experience love or heartbreak and you come out of it, there's so much growing you do, and all that love that you're left holding, you can give to the people around you. I like that being the message we end on, that you continue to show up for your community and the people you love, and they will also show up for you."

The journey to 'Lighthouse' has been one of personal and artistic growth. "I think we had tried writing a little bit before going on tour in the US in 2022, but we were pretty unsuccessful. Most of the writing happened after that tour, and after the tour, we did with Soccer Mommy. Writing our last EP, 'The Funhouse', had felt really dark and heavy, and that was reflective of my headspace at the time; going from that to going on tour in the US and making friends and finding our way across this huge country felt like flying. Then I came home and fell in love, and it just seemed like my whole world was opening up, which led to our sound opening up and being brighter and fuller."

The recording presented its own set of challenges, particularly the transition from the comfort of a home studio to the pressures of a professional recording environment. "This was the first time we recorded in studios, which I found very stressful. Normally, we did all the production at Chris's home studio, so there was always all the time in the world to record everything, and I could do it at my own pace. The whole finite time and money is disappearing thing was very stressful and foreign to me, so three days before going into the studio to finish the album, I got hit with a massive cold… colds are becoming a recurring thing for me, which is kind of lame. So my voice was gone for the whole time we were in the studio, so we couldn't actually record vocals there; we basically had to just use the home studio. Which, in the end, was a blessing."

Jana's creative vision extends beyond the music itself, with the visuals for 'Lighthouse' playing a crucial role in conveying the album's narrative. She took on the ambitious task of creating all the single covers, each telling a story that parallels but also diverges from the songs. "I'm really proud of how the visuals, the album, and the single art have contributed to my understanding and picture of the album," she explains. "It was really rewarding to create a music video with a crew and cast for 'Real Love' and enrich the visual world of the album. I also made 11 different 'single' covers for each of the tracks on the album. I carved into Linobloc to tell this story of a couple that meets when they're young and stays together into older age. Getting the idea to tell a story which paralleled the story in the songs but veered off in its own direction with the album art was really exciting. I'm proud that I followed through with that and executed that idea."

The album sees more instrumentalisation added to the Francis of Delirium mix. Like so many when they reach that first big project, it expands horizons, but also adds a sense of intimacy too. "Incorporating more pianos and acoustic guitars was a result of leaning into vulnerability in my writing," Jana reveals. "I wanted the openness in my lyrics to be reflected in the way the songs were produced and recorded. The tracks are all a lot brighter and richer as a result of adding those instruments, creating a sweetness that feels true to the feeling of falling in love as well as being vulnerable and sharing love with the people around you."

Hope is a prevailing theme on the album. "There's a purity to the love songs on the album; they feel youthful in their presentation, like there is no trick or sense of being jaded. It felt important to commit to the feeling and to have hope in what love can give you, even if it doesn't work out."

As for the future, Jana's hopes aren't constrained to the usual big shows, chart success and world domination. Really, she's just looking to hang out with some little dudes for a good second breakfast. "I hope the album will take us to Hobbiton," she admits. "It would be pretty awesome if we got to play some shows or a festival in New Zealand. I watch the Lord of the Rings every year, and I would love to see some of the places they filmed in.

"Really, if people just connect with the album and we can tour more and more, that would be the dream," she adds, taking things back to the day job. "Playing shows is really one of my favourite parts of all of this."

In a time when the world often feels fragmented, Francis of Delirium offers a message of hope and unity. From the personal revelations that shaped 'Lighthouse' to Jana's aspirations for the band's future, reflect a deep-seated belief in the power of music to bring people together. As she embarks on her next chapter, Francis of Delirium invites us to find solace in their sound, a reminder that, in the end, we're all navigating this chaotic, beautiful life together. ■