NAME:
Eden Rain
ABOUT
Inspired as much by Sufjan Stevens as it is by Drake, Eden’s sound has the heart of neo-soul but backed by hip-hop beats and dressed with indie-pop melodies. There’s a touch of the etherealism of Låpsley and FKA Twigs, but with an earthy and streetwise grounding.It’s the culmination of a lifetime of education that came from hand-me-down mixtapes and inherited love of discovery through listening to Desert Island Discs. Singing from a young age, she truly found her voice when pushed to belt out a Carole King song at a talent competition in her hometown. ”That’s when I realised that music was what I’m meant to do,” she recalls, and before long she was busking on street corners to fund a dream poetry slam trip to the States.
“Yes, I used to do slam poetry as a kid. I’m owning it – it’s not lame!,” she laughs. “I’ve always written poetry, but it wasn’t until I was 16 that I wrote my first song. That was the first song of mine that my manager heard. Poetry became the starting point for my music. If I’m ever really stuck in my emotions on a particular day, I’ll just write it all out in my notebook.”
Growing up with a love of the words of Benjamin Zephaniah, now Eden recognises her poetic approach as being in line with the likes of Kae Tempest and her knack of “finding the everyday gods in things and the beauty in the everyday”. That mixture of intimacy and reality and the sense that “it’s less about what you can see and more about how it makes you feel” can also be found in Eden’s artwork. What started as distracted doodles as a teenager are now an integral part of her creative output. Her expressive sketches, with a touch of Egon Schiele about them, have often seen Eden through periods of writers’ block. “The drawings come from the same place as the music,” she reveals. “They’re a visual soundtrack to my life.”
“I’m influenced by a lot of the DIY scene and I grew up listening to a lot of bands like Cyber Bully Mom Club,” she says. “I’d go to these DIY shows and become obsessed with the zines that they’d make. I’d never get round to finishing them because I wanted them to be pretty and perfect, but now I realise that’s not what art is – it’s suppose to be real to what I’m about.”
Gathering together her songs of urban life, alienation and self-discovery, Eden is working to put together a project of EPs that gather all of her art together. “It’s a rapidly evolving thing,” she says. “I’m still coming to terms with what I want to make and what I want to say.”
Rest assured that by throwing all of resolve and creative power at it, the work that you’re about to hear from Eden will be pure and unapologetic. “I’ve always had a strong gut feeling about what I want to make and I find it very hard to be told,” she continues. “I hate it when someone says, ‘This is the gap you’re meant to fill’.
“Allowing my instincts to drive me and knowing what gutter vision is has brought me closer to my identity as an artist. It’s about more than the music – it’s about the whole world that surrounds it.”
Expand“Yes, I used to do slam poetry as a kid. I’m owning it – it’s not lame!,” she laughs. “I’ve always written poetry, but it wasn’t until I was 16 that I wrote my first song. That was the first song of mine that my manager heard. Poetry became the starting point for my music. If I’m ever really stuck in my emotions on a particular day, I’ll just write it all out in my notebook.”
Growing up with a love of the words of Benjamin Zephaniah, now Eden recognises her poetic approach as being in line with the likes of Kae Tempest and her knack of “finding the everyday gods in things and the beauty in the everyday”. That mixture of intimacy and reality and the sense that “it’s less about what you can see and more about how it makes you feel” can also be found in Eden’s artwork. What started as distracted doodles as a teenager are now an integral part of her creative output. Her expressive sketches, with a touch of Egon Schiele about them, have often seen Eden through periods of writers’ block. “The drawings come from the same place as the music,” she reveals. “They’re a visual soundtrack to my life.”
“I’m influenced by a lot of the DIY scene and I grew up listening to a lot of bands like Cyber Bully Mom Club,” she says. “I’d go to these DIY shows and become obsessed with the zines that they’d make. I’d never get round to finishing them because I wanted them to be pretty and perfect, but now I realise that’s not what art is – it’s suppose to be real to what I’m about.”
Gathering together her songs of urban life, alienation and self-discovery, Eden is working to put together a project of EPs that gather all of her art together. “It’s a rapidly evolving thing,” she says. “I’m still coming to terms with what I want to make and what I want to say.”
Rest assured that by throwing all of resolve and creative power at it, the work that you’re about to hear from Eden will be pure and unapologetic. “I’ve always had a strong gut feeling about what I want to make and I find it very hard to be told,” she continues. “I hate it when someone says, ‘This is the gap you’re meant to fill’.
“Allowing my instincts to drive me and knowing what gutter vision is has brought me closer to my identity as an artist. It’s about more than the music – it’s about the whole world that surrounds it.”