Serafina Steer

Born in London in 1982, Serafina Steer has since the mid-2000s developed a career that sits at the crossroads of experimental folk, chamber pop, art pop, and stage writing. Trained harpist, also a singer, keyboardist, and bassist, she makes the harp a central but not exclusive instrument, integrated into arrangements that mingle acoustic textures, repetitive motifs, discreet electronics, and a melodic sense that is often off-kilter. After the Japan Tour EP in 2006, Serafina Steer released Cheap Demo Bad Science in 2007, followed by Change Is Good, Change Is Good in 2010 on Static Caravan, before The Moths Are Real in 2013, produced by Jarvis Cocker, with whom she began a lasting collaboration. This working relationship extends notably within Jarv Is, active from 2017, where Serafina Steer contributed to writing Beyond the Pale in 2020. In parallel, she composes for theatre and film, co-writes the music for the series This Is Going to Hurt, and develops Bas Jan, a post-punk project founded in 2015, first as a trio then expanded, of which she writes a large portion of the repertoire, with the albums Yes I Jan in 2018, Baby U Know in 2022 and Back to the Swamp in 2023. Her solo work continues with The Mind Is a Trap in 2019 and the EP Drinking From the Pools of Night in 2024.