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So excited to be bringing Bas Jan to Oxford in support of their ace second album 'Baby U Know? - we are huge fans of their off-kilter avant-pop!

Support comes from left-field pop musician, composer and award-winning director of YWMP Oxford, Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani who is showcasing new songs from her upcoming EP.

We are running the show as a matinee and family friendly event at Florence Park Community Centre with under 10s for free and tickets are priced as pay what you can between £5 and £12!

London-based ensemble Bas Jan return with a new expanded line-up and their second album ?Baby U Know?. Released on Lost Map in January 2022, it is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2018 debut album Yes I Jan, which was hailed for its ?messy majesty? (9/10, Uncut) and ?beautifully fractured art-pop? (????, Mojo). Bas Jan were co founded in 2015 by Serafina Steer, Sarah Anderson and Jenny Moore. The band now features Emma Smith (Jarv Is, Meilyr Jones, Seamus Fogarty and founder member of the Elysian Quartet) on violin and bass, Rachel Horwood (Trash Kit, Bamboo, Jenny Moore?s Mystic Business) on drums, Charlie Stock (The Irrepressibles) on electric violin and Steer on keys and bass . Yes I Jan was followed in 2018 with the release of the Instant Nostalgia EP, and shows around the UK and Europe, highlights include touring with DRINKS (Cate Le Bon + Tim Presley), Wassermusick Festival in Berlin, Green Man, Doune the Rabbit Hole, End of the Road, a live broadcast from The Serpentine Gallery for BBC Radio3?s Late Junction as well as three live sessions with BBC6?s Marc Riley.

?Baby U Know marks a consolidation of Bas Jan as a four piece,? say Bas Jan. ?It was recorded at Cafe Oto in London over three days and then finished with Capitol K at the Total Refreshment Centre in London in September 2020. Getting the Arts Council Funding and making the album represented a coming together out of the solitudes of 2020, carving out the possibility of a future for the band at a time when Brexit and Everything cast all those things very much into doubt or, at best, made them a very low priority. The time constraints of having to finish the record before one of the band entered third trimester of pregnancy, and with a winter lockdown pending, probably added a rawness to these recordings. It?s kind of a pragmatically hopeful record.?

Bas Jan is a musically collaborative group with lyrics by Serafina Steer. Steer is a vocalist, harpist, bassist and keyboard player who has released four critically-acclaimed solo albums ? the latest of which The Mind Is a Trap came out in 2019. The previous solo album ?The Moths Are Real? (Stolen Recordings 2012) was produced by Jarvis Cocker who remains a regular collaborator. Bas Jan?s Emma Smith and Steer developed material and perform live as part of his ongoing project Jarv Is, the debut album of which- Beyond the Pale - was released in 2020 (Rough Trade). She has appeared both live and on record with musicians including Lone Taxidermist, Capitol K, Chromehoof, Hannah Peel, Sean O?Hagan, Rozi Plain, John T. Gast, Patrick Wolf, Tunng and John Foxx.

MEDIA PRAISE FOR YES I JAN:

?MESSY MAJESTY? ? 9/10, UNCUT
?BEAUTIFULLY FRACTURED ART-POP? ???? ? MOJO
?DAY-TO-DAY STORIES FULL OF UNCANNY POP PUNK MAGIC? ? THE QUIETUS
?WE LOVE THEM? ? MARC RILEY, BBC 6 MUSIC
?CLEVER, WARM AND UNPREDICTABLE? MUCH TO SAVOUR? ? Q

Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani:

"They Say", the first single from her upcoming EP, introduces a new scope that draws on themes of protection, parenthood, survival and recovery in the wake of abuse. A wake up call, a call to action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Wvjg59vB4

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Cornwallis Road,

Oxford,

Oxfordshire,

England,

OX4 3NH.