Export / Import

Export / Import

Export Import, a 10-piece ensemble from Canning Town, has carved out a peculiar niche in London’s underground music scene. Known for hosting “Life Passage Ceremonies” such as weddings, funerals, baptisms, and exorcisms, the group performs at venues like Venue MOT, Colour Factory, and The Windmill, as well as unannounced appearances on London’s streets. The project operates under two contrasting identities: Export and Import. Export is rigid and intense, delivering a punishing blend of sharp rhythms and angular compositions. Their performances are known for their unrelenting energy, often teetering on the edge of discomfort, creating a sense of organized chaos that leaves audiences divided—some exhilarated, others overwhelmed—and with reports of audience members even being hospitalized. Import is the opposite: free-flowing and meditative, resembling the open-ended structure of spiritual jazz. These performances offer a quieter, inward experience, at times stretching for hours and focusing on a looser, more organic approach to sound. Export Import maintains a secretive presence, appearing unpredictably and cultivating a mystique that blurs the line between art and obsession. Their audiences have been seen wearing capes and conical hats fashioned from London Underground advertisements, as part of a "transmutation." Their latest guise as a 50s ballads ensemble in Soho jazz clubs and cocktail bars, which they’ve declared their self-proclaimed “final formation,” feels like another ironic twist in their unpredictable evolution. Whether this marks a genuine new direction or is just another phase in their multi faceted master plan is still a mystery.

See Export / Import tour dates