Francis of Delirium Share Unnerving New Single, “Come out and Play”

Jana Bahrich’s Luxembourg-based indie-rock project Francis of Delirium are back with their first new track since the April release of their 2021 standout EP Wading. The shoegaze/grunge-inspired “Come out and Play” is out now alongside a music video, animated by Bahrich herself.

Mixed by Jolyon Thomas (Royal Blood, Slaves) and mastered by Joe Lambert (Sharon Van Etten, Deerhunter), “Come out and Play” is menacing from the start with its flickering synths and thrumming bassline. Bahrich’s moody vocals evoke Nirvana in the verses, and ride tidal waves of power-chord crunch in the choruses—”Wash me, wash me away / Come out and play,” she commands, her wordless vocalizations both powerfully melodic and unsettling in the song’s crashing outro.

Bahrich says of the new single in a statement:

I kept thinking about clowns when making this song, I watched Fellini’s 8 ½ and the closing scene where a procession of clowns play in a band stuck with me. I had them in my mind for months, thinking about the way they hid behind painted faces, keeping so much hidden from the audience, and also just how sad they seemed. I wanted this song to feel dark and to have an eeriness that would make sense in the background of some weird art movie about funhouses and carnivals.

Francis of Delirium have just shy of a dozen tour dates on the books for this fall, including their sold-out London debut and an empty space where their Iceland Airwaves set used to be. They’ll play a pair of E.U. festivals in September before spending the back half of October in the U.K., with more E.U., U.K. and U.S. dates to be announced in the near future.

Watch the “Come out and Play” video below and see Francis of Delirium’s tour dates further down. You can revisit our Best of What’s Next profile on the band here.

Francis of Delirium Tour Dates:

September
08 – Roubaix, France @ Crossroads Festival
09 – Wien, Austria @ Waves Vienna 2021

October
18 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
19 – Manchester, UK @ Castle Hotel
20 – London, UK @ Folklore
21 – Ramsgate, UK @ Ramsgate Music Hall
22 – Bristol, UK @ The Crofters Rights, Bristol
24 – Worcester, UK @ Drummonds
26 – Oxford, UK @ The Bullingdon *
27 – Guildford, UK @ The Boilerroom*
28 – London, UK @ Omeara *

(* – Supporting Coach Party)