The epitome of a modern artist, Jana Bahrich does most things herself, no matter how painstaking - writing, producing, directing, designing and so on, going as far as to lose eyesight for a  day after hand animating a video for a week straight. The daughter of Canadian teachers, she grew up moving around - born in Belgium, relocating to Switzerland then Canada before settling in Luxembourg. This wanderlust plus her mom constantly making art helped to foster an artistic  curiosity in Jana from a young age as well as a passion for guitars, which accelerated in her mid teens - fueled by hours spent on YouTube watching music videos and live performances, scrolling  Reddit forums, and devouring music blogs, all in search of something new.  

Meeting and subsequently working with drummer and producer Chris Hewett - an American living  in Luxembourg - led to Jana forming Francis of Delirium. Taking 90s US college rock influences  and the majesty of Sufjan Stevens as the start point, her band are now known for euphoric music  that breathes life into rock from a Gen Z perspective. Stereogum summed her up perfectly when  saying "There’s a bit of Pixies and Snail Mail and The Beths in there, and maybe some Lomelda and Lucy Dacus  and Built To Spill. You know, that really f*cking good sh*t.”  

Released as Jana was finishing up high school, her first single ('Quit Fucking Around') landed in  2020. A brilliant introduction, it remains a raucous moment in her live show and is one of her most  enduring songs. Shortly after it came out, she signed to artist-first indie Dalliance Recordings (Gia  Margaret, HighSchool) and three EPs (All Change [2020], Wading [2021], The Funhouse [2022]) and a  striking debut album (Lighthouse [2024]) on and Jana has Francis of Delirium flying - her confessional  and honest songwriting strike a chord while raw, powerful guitars and surging drums add real bite,  folding to softer moments and harmonic payoffs when need be.  

While the EP’s fizzed with promise and garnered excitement, her debut album landed its punches.  Seeking a more vulnerable and open sonic palette, she was now weaving in pop elements to create  anthems that celebrated heartbreak and love. Lead singles ‘Real Love’ and ‘First Touch’ were the first tracks she made with an outsider, working with Australian GRAMMY winning producer Catherine Marks (boygenius, The Killers, Wolf Alice), while the rest of the album was produced  by Jana and Chris. The critics were impressed too - “Bahrich’s choruses, almost every one, are lump-in-your throat gorgeous.” NME; “Jana Bahrich seems too young for this tremendous debut’s ambitious anthems.” Uncut; “A  rewarding experience that captures a talented, young artist at the crossroads between adolescence and adulthood."  Paste. 

Live, Francis of Delirium are a trio consisting of Jana (guitar and vocals), Jeff Hennico (bass) and  Denis Schumacher (drums). Together, their brilliant quiet-loud dynamic and tight interplay elevate  her songs and over the last 5 years, they’ve toured across Europe and North America, playing  headline shows, festivals and tours with the likes of Blondshell, Briston Maroney, The  Districts, Horsegirl and Soccer Mommy. They’ve also supported Alanis Morissette, DIIV,  The 1975, Kings of Leon and Wolf Alice.  

Her visual art needs mention too. Inspired by artists such as German painter Ernst Ludwig  Kirchner and French expressionist Chaïm Soutine, she uses strong colours and bold prints while  retaining a childlike simplicity to her work. She starts with real life tools (such as lino blocks, paper  and ink and paint and wood) before transferring images of the work to Photoshop to finish them.  This hands-on approach gives her sleeve art a distinct aesthetic, one that matches her music  perfectly - a point underlined when fans send her DMs of her designs in tattoo form.  

Last summer saw a memorable UK tour with Bôa, the 90s British band resurrected by a huge  TikTok moment for their track ‘Duvet’. There was a real sense of excitement for these shows with  young crowds snaking outside every venue hours before doors and thankfully, they connected with  Francis of Delirium. Bringing a real sense of community with them - the sort of energy Jana thrives  on - she used this moment to road test new material and after it was met by an overwhelmingly  positive response, had all the impetus she needed to go and finish the record.  

An artist who seeks to connect with her listener, it’s no surprise that she’s made hope and inner  strength central themes on her new album, Run, Run Pure Beauty. Looking to bring different  perspectives into her songwriting - informed by both her travels and the tumultuous times we find  ourselves in - she said, “I’ve spent a lot of time in cities I don’t live in recently, feeling like a voyeur when observing  people, architecture and art.” Excitingly, the album shows a progression in sound too, with her songs  somehow sounding larger with undeniable harmonies abound. Nowhere is this more apparent than  on single ‘Higher’, a track that takes the lush haziness of the Laurel Canyon sound and makes it  almost spiritual. “I really went all out on this one. There are over seventy vocals and even that wasn’t enough so I  enlisted the help of my speech therapist to add a different vocal texture. A crucial part of the past year after she helped  me strengthen my voice after a surgery I had had on my neck, having her sing on the record honours our relationship and  what she taught me.”  

The first germs for the album came when she was enduring New York’s insufferable heat in the  Summer of 2024. “I dragged my guitar across the city, trying to write in small rehearsal rooms, dark boxes in  warehouses, essentially bathed in sweat. I found it impossible. I could only take images from it once I’d left.”  Returning home to more clement surroundings, she started to jam ideas with Chris in his home  studio before taking them home to work them further on her minimal bedroom set-up, eventually  finishing them off at Holtz Sound Studio, north of Luxembourg City, to capture the sounds only a  big space can.  

A moment in deciding the direction of the album came when Jana enlisted the help of jazz  musician Pol Belardi, who would improvise thousands of ideas on the spot. “In the storm of Pol’s  improvisation, I heard a few notes that I turned into a motif that would find itself peppered across the whole album. It  also inspired me to take out an instrument I hadn’t touched in years… the violin.” With it, “ I was after that ‘I Am 

the Walrus’ sound, close to the strings but not perfect so I sat in my room, I recorded take after take, pitching it or using  autotune to try and affect its sound.” This led to, as Jana coins it, “bedroom orchestral arranging” with the  French Horn soon also being employed. Having not appeared on any of her prior works, it’s all over  Run, Run Pure Beauty. “The horn is the ultimate cinematic instrument which I wanted to learn to play after hearing  Howard Shore’s score for The Lord of the Rings,” she says. 

Released on May 15th 2026 and featuring the singles ‘Little Black Dress’ and ‘It’s a Beautiful Life’,  Run, Run Pure Beauty serves as an excavation of hope in bleak times. “Run, Run Pure Beauty can be  read as either a warning or a wish. A warning for the good in the world to run away, protect itself, hide from the  hopelessness and darkness that seems inevitable. Or as a wish, for us to run towards the beauty in the world, freely and  wildly.” Produced by Jana and Chris, and mixed by Nicolas Vernhes (Deerhunter, Dirty  Projectors, Silver Jews, Wild Nothing), its eleven songs of discovery, despair and perseverance  ultimately serve as a mirror on its creator and is a brilliant next instalment in the Francis of  Delirium arc.  

www.francisofdelirium.com 

www.dalliancerecordings.com