Guitar indie rock that not only masters loud and quiet, but also pathos.
A Luxembourger in New York City: In the hot summer of 2024, Jana Bahrich wrote the songs for the second album of her project Francis Of Delirium there. The texts tell of the experiences in a city where you could hardly move or meet people. The music on the album, on the other hand, is more reminiscent of the sound of another major American city, located almost four hours by car to the northeast: Bahrich is into the power of guitar indie rock, which was co-invented in Boston at the end of the eighties.
The spirit of old records from bands like Throwing Muses, Belly and the Breeders floats through many of the songs on RUN, RUN PURE BEAUTY. It becomes apparent when Francis Of Delirium relies on loud-quiet dynamics. Or when she finds twisted melodies in the verses, which she then unravels in the chorus. The title track is a good example of this.
Before the album becomes too expectable, Bahrich finds other ways. “Higher” is big, you think of Stevie Nicks or Florence + The Machine, “Damned” has a fat neo-postpunk beat. Everything flows together in “Requiem For A Dying Day”: the sun goes, the heat stays, thoughts go to all the lost souls. Suddenly Jana Bahrich conveys great pathos – and she can do that too.
