Eden Rain is the emerging London singer-songwriter who is fast on the rise. With captivating vocals and vivid storytelling she’s already got a buzz around her.
Since releasing her first two EPs, Gutter Vision and But I’m Alright Now, last year, she’s gearing up for the release of her third, having just released her fantastic new single, Great Nothing.
Ahead of her headline show at Bristol’s The Louisiana, we caught up with the Leeds born independent artist to chat all about her upcoming projects, achieving your dreams and her true love, The Muppets.
Hi Eden, thank you so much for joining me for a chat! How are you?
I’m good, thank you!
So we’re currently at The Louisiana in Bristol ahead of your headline show here tonight - how are you feeling about that?
I’m feeling good! I’m very excited.
How would you describe your live shows for anyone who hasn’t seen you before? What can we expect from your set tonight?
I like to do as close to the track as I can get, like with the energy of it. So I’d describe my shows as energetic, fun, laid-back… maybe too laid-back at times, but we’ll see!
And do you have any expectations for the show and general vibe tonight?
I actually know a few Bristolians and they’re really nice so that’s the vibe I’m going forward with. But yeah, I’m so excited! I’ve been to Bristol only one other time, that was playing in Bristol supporting someone at The Exchange and it was really good and everyone was lovely.
What songs are you most looking forward to playing tonight? Do you have a favourite track from your most recent EP?
I think I’m most looking forward to playing Pet Names, and I always like playing the songs that aren’t out yet because I think that’s exciting and also like less can go wrong because no-one knows them. But I enjoy playing Oh God as well because that’s quite an energetic one. And my favourite from the last EP? All Things Change, I think.
Do you feel that when you play unreleased songs live, you’re like testing out that new material?
Yeah, I think in terms of songs I want to release in the future, I’ll get feedback from people being like, “I really like this song” and that’s a good thing. And I think if people can remember an unreleased song, then that’s also a good thing.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Going for a wee. That’s a big one. And sometimes I like to play this game on my phone, which calms me down, where you have to make watermelons. It’s really good!
So how would you personally describe your sound and musical style?
I think like indie-pop, which I know is obviously quite a broad sphere, like alt-pop. But I think it’s inspired by a lot of blends of a lot of different artists that I really love. So there was never going to be like one specific thing, it’s just a combination.
So you’re from Leeds, but you moved to London - was that a decision you made for music? If so, why did you choose to make that move?
I did make that move for music, yeah, pretty much! I think annoyingly there is an idea that London is like the epicentre of all things music, which to a degree it is, and I’ve met a lot of producers in London. Now that I've lived in London for a few years, I feel like a lot of my life is in London, but originally I didn’t really know many people there. I kind of just went for the music. But I think the more I do music, the more I realise you can pretty much do it anywhere.
And how would you say the music scenes differ between Leeds and London?
My experience of the music scene in Leeds was definitely less as a musician, so it was just going to gigs that I loved and going to see independent artists and friends. In London, on any given night you could go to like 100 different shows and see different artists, which I think is amazing as there’s so much variety. It’s available in Leeds too, but I didn’t experience that as much.
How did you get into music and at what point did you go “oh, I can make a career out of this?” Was music always something you set out to do?
I was talking about this the other day about how I got into music and I kind of realised it wasn’t as intentional and I thought it was because I used to write poetry, then turned it into lyrics. Then my grandpa and my mum taught me to sing and I always loved singing and writing but I didn’t see it as a career. I was gonna go to uni but I really didn’t want to go because there was a feeling that I should be doing something else. I wasn’t really sure what that was until I met the first producer I worked with, who was my friend’s dad, and that was an amazing introduction into music and the industry.
Can you remember the first song you ever wrote and what it was inspired by?
I can actually! It was when I was…I’m gonna say six and it was called Looking At The Apple Tree. I performed it to everyone all the time. Numerous times for a day - everyone needed to hear it. I can still remember it… I think it went like, ‘Looking at the apple tree/There’s plenty for/You and me.’
Do you remember what your first encounters with music were?
My parents got me into music. My dad just loves music and my mum is an amazing singer. I think we’ve always been a family that loves music. My brother, Noah, and I would listen to Busted, and we would really go for it and like really headbang, and we’d have these little parties when we were meant to be going to sleep - like really aggressively head banging and putting our little CD player on. But I found a video the other day that our parents took on a camcorder and it’s 11pm, we’re meant to be asleep and the door’s shut, then they knock on the door, come in, and we’re just sitting there, Busted blaring over the speaker. That was my first memory of music.
Who inspired you musically when you first got into music and who inspires you now?
Growing up I used to really love Kae Tempest - they’re an amazing poet and I went to loads of their plays and poetry readings. And I remember I saw them at the Hammersmith Apollo, I think, and I was listening to them on the tube the other day and thinking about how it’s kind of like a full circle because I really admired them and still do. I met them when I was younger and I was awestruck. I think if I met them again now, I’d be like ‘You’re why I’m doing music.’ I used to love Jessie J, and Glee was the first concert I ever went to! I still have a lot of love for the music that I grew up listening to.
Your sophomore EP ‘But I’m alright now’ was released back in November - can you tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind the project and why you chose that to be the title?
My dad had this joke, which was like ‘I used to be a parrot, but I’m alright now’ then you’d go ‘what?’ and he’d repeat it and keep saying it like a parrot repeating itself. I think that was the joke, that’s what I deduced the joke was about because I never understood it as a kid. But that phrase ‘But I’m alright now’ really stuck in my head. And I think that writing and releasing that EP was kind of like I’d left behind a lot of younger dramas and I thought about how when you're in your 20s and older, it feels like nothing is as serious. All the problems you thought were problems aren’t problems when you’re like 11 years older.
How did the process of making that differ from the debut and how would you say your sound has evolved across your projects?
I think with each EP I’ve made, the more and more intentional I’ve become. I think the first one was actually just a collection of songs that I really like. The second one I wanted to be a more intentional collection of songs, and I didn’t want every song to be written about boys that were mean to me in high school.
What would you say are the main themes within that EP?
I think a lot of it is like reflecting on the past, especially on the track All Things Change. I wrote that song two years before it came out, and I came back to it because it was a song about something that was very difficult and going on at the time, but coming back to it two years later, obviously it was still a relevant song, but the beauty of it was that it’s called All Things Change and everything did change, so I rewrote the last verse.
Were the tracks on the EP all written specifically for the project or were they all written at different points?
I wrote them all at different times, but I think choosing them was fairly straightforward and the ones that I really wanted just kind of jumped out.
Are there any songs that you wrote for the EP that didn’t make the cut?
Yeah! There was a graveyard of demos…. Even stuff I wrote then that I really love, that might come out one day, that just didn’t really fit sonically with this EP, which could come out in a few EPs time!
So do you pick up songs again, then? Is that how your writing process works?
Yeah, I think I write quite a lot, especially recently, and they usually come as singles, then I look at them and decide what ties them all together.
You’re gearing up for the release of your third EP later in the year - what can you tell me about that?
I’ve been writing a lot and there’s a lot of songs that I’m really excited to release, and I’ve already released two singles which I’m very excited about! That’s probably as much as I can tell you at the moment!
Is this EP made up of completely new material?
Yeah, there’s new material, but I definitely do hold onto old songs and think ‘this should come out!’ There’s a song about me going to Toulouse to find my boyfriend, which my managers say is too niche, but that’s my whole thing!
So what does your writing process look like?
I write all the time in my notes app and notebook about things I’m thinking and feeling and that usually comes in handy when I’m feeling really intensely about things, which I can then take to a session and look through when I don’t know what to write about. But yeah, I’m a big lyrics girl. Then with the producer, we’ll figure out the track and the chords.
Was there anything you did whilst making those two EPs that you’ve decided to do differently, or even do again, for this upcoming EP?
I’m definitely writing a lot more intentionally now about stuff that’s happening now, but also I’m trying to be less niche. But there are still niche references in there! I love being niche but I also want my music to age in the right way.
So in comparison to your other two EPs, how do you think your upcoming project differs and what can we expect from it? Do you think it’s tied to the other two in any way and if so how? Are they thematically similar?
There’s still a lot of friendship, family themes. They’re all written about my life or my friends’ lives and I do my very best to romanticise all of those things. Songs grow up with me as well, so sometimes I go back to them and think “maybe this isn’t as relevant to me now, but the general sentiment is still there.”
You’ve just released the single ‘Great Nothing’ - what was the inspiration behind that track, and what was the writing and recording process like?
The inspiration was a few specific men, but it was more like a feeling that a lot of my friends also had when I spoke to them about it, around male friendships and them going a bit west because often men aren’t used to the intensity of female friendships and secure friendships and how it’s not always romantic love, it’s just that you’re friends. And it also brought up some stuff for me like men only respecting women that they’re romantically interesting. It’s quite an angry song.
Another one of your songs that really stands out to me is ‘Terry and Julie’, a song about the two characters in The Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset - what drew you to writing a song about them and how did that song come about?
It was the day before I had a session and I was sitting on the bus thinking about how I hadn’t really written any songs not about me, and I think I was listening to Waterloo Sunset at the time, and I remember thinking ‘what if we could turn this into a sort of where are they now?’ And that’s where Terry and Julie came from really.
So more generally - where do you take inspiration for your music from? Do you write songs about things you’ve personally experienced or do you draw inspiration from, for example, your friends or characters?
Definitely both! Anything that interests me, or if my friend says something to me, sometimes I’ll write a dramatised version of what they say in the hope that someone relates to how I’ve interpreted it. But I definitely find inspiration everywhere!
Now that you’ve written about Terry and Julie, do you think you’d be open to writing about other characters?
Yeah! I watched The Banshees of Inisherin and I remember being in a session after watching it and I was so excited by the film I couldn’t write about it! But I will and I’m gonna write a song about it! There’s only so much you can write about your life, so you have to start collecting inspiration from other places!
Your style really stands out to me, both looking at your social media and watching your music videos - where do you take your style inspiration from and the aesthetic choices for say your music videos?
I wouldn’t say it’s conscious, it’s just things I like!
Why do you feel fashion, style and aesthetics is so important within music?
Yeah, big time! I think there’s been some artists where I’ve heard their music and then seen them and their style and gone “yeah that makes sense!” And I love album and single artwork and how that all ties together!
I have read some of your other interviews, the muppets seem to come up a lot (as they should!) - who is your favourite muppet?
That’s like trying to pick my favourite child!
Ok, let’s make it easier, which Muppet would you most like to go on a night out with?
I think Kermit because I think he’s got a lot of wisdom, a lot to share. Yeah, a lot of wisdom and a lot going on behind his size!
And finally, what’s next for Eden Rain?
Everything! Everything is next!
Eden Rain’s new single, Great Nothing, is out now!
Where to find Eden:
Instagram: @edenintherain
Twitter: @edenintherain
TikTok: @edenintherainmusic
FaceBook: Eden Rain
Website/merch: https://eden-rain.sumupstore.com/
Spotify:
KATIE HILLIER
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