2024 has been a busy year for upcoming indie artist Eden Rain, who has released multiple singles, played numerous gigs, been recognised by BBC Radio 1, and dropped her third EP, ‘Anyway, how are you?’ just last week on November 15th. We sat down with the London-based creative to discuss her musical upbringing, her creative process of bringing visual ideas to life, and Eden Rain essentials.
Even before moving to London, the Yorkshire-raised artist was heavily impacted by music, as Eden thinks back to long car journeys that turned into family sing-alongs, consisting of multi-part harmonies. “I remember listening to ABBA in the car. And my parents showing me the ‘Blues Brothers’ on DVD. I haven’t seen the whole thing, I guess because it was rude at parts,”, she laughs. Eden’s earliest musical memory stems from her parents as well: “My middle name is Rain and my parents used to sing Eden Rain to me growing up, in the tune of ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince. I remember that so well because they would sing it, then my aunts and then other family friends.”
“The music I grew up on definitely consciously influences the music I make now,”, the young artist states and elaborates, “I love classical singer-songwriter stuff. I’m a big Carole King fan, and I love The Carpenters. That’s all the stuff that my parents listened to. My mum taught herself to sing when she was younger by listening to Barbara Streisand, so I’m massively influenced by what I listened to growing up.”
Even though she didn’t go to school or university for music, she unsurprisingly always knew that she wanted to become a musician: “It was always what I really wanted to do but I assumed it wouldn’t really be a career. I was really lucky in the way that I met people and one thing led to another. I think the only career-oriented thing I specifically did was moving to London”.
Regarding songwriting, Eden finds inspiration in “just about everything”. “My friends’ breakups, their drama, people I’ve met, if they tell me something interesting. I’m always thinking of how I can put this in a song, which is really annoying of me,”, she laughs, “And oftentimes when something has happened in my own life, I think the only way I could fully feel it is by writing a song about it.”
Her songwriting process changes continuously as Eden explains she doesn’t have a set way of writing, “which is what keeps it exciting”. “I always will have a rough idea about what I want to write about. Or when I play chords or something, I think, “What does this remind me of? What does it make me think of?”, and it all comes together.” “It’s like making a soup! I just like to sprinkle!”, she giggles and makes a gesture that resembles the salt-bae meme.
Eden names Leonard Cohen, Adrianne Lenker, and Kae Tempest as her biggest lyrical inspirations. “I’m really big into lyricism. I love Kae Tempest because I grew up listening to their poetry so when they went into more musical spheres, that was amazing. But I enjoy any artists with good lyrics, and then on top of that, good melodies and production.”
When it comes to visual inspiration, Eden admits to being a “big Pinterest girly”. “Sometimes when I try to sit and think, “What do I want exactly for this EP cover?”, I have to sit on the idea and the feeling of what the song or the project is about before I can fully commit to it because I’m really indecisive. Oftentimes I’ll see something that reminds me of something and it actually sets a little chain reaction in my brain. More often than not, I’ll try an idea I have in my head and it looks like nothing by the end than what I decided on earlier, and that’s not a good thing! It’s frustrating when I’ve got such a good idea in my head but then when I try to do it, it doesn’t look good. But I love making my own artwork and videos and stuff, that’s always important to me!”
For her most recent EP ‘Anyways, how are you?’, Eden’s concept was to “track the process through a relationship and different themes like insecurity, grief, and the initial love”. “While each song individually is about different things, looking at them all together felt like it was the lifespan of a relationship in a lot of ways, visually as well.” The name ‘Anyway, how are you?’, stems from the feeling of “ranting to someone for so long about your own life and everything that’s going on and then being, like, well, anyways, how are you?” – which we believe is something everyone can relate to. Her song ‘Closer’ was the most difficult one for her to write emotionally, as it is also the most raw and honest she has ever been in a song, and with herself.
Eden believes that she, as an artist and a person, is “a bit of a patchwork quilt of different things” that she adores – what kind of things would that be? “Crisps! I love crisps!”, she blurts out, first and foremost, before taking a moment to think about other examples. “I think any cute animated or animatronic or puppet I love, but then also combined with deep and devotional feelings. I love tacky things! My favourite thing right now is, I’m looking over at this toy hamster, and when you squeeze it, it sings. That can go on the list for sure!”, she laughs and continues, “I also love the back of a charity shop, where you can’t tell if it’s really ugly or not. And I think that’s me as a person, but then also adding the kind of grief and love, and passion for music – sprinkle that in there, you know!”
Eden’s highlight of this year was how it started, as she went on a journey – mentally and physically – by herself, where she wrote most of the EP’s songs: “That was really special because I’ve never gone away and written somewhere”. She also mentions her headline show from November 12th as it was “[her] first headline show in London for a while, and that was really great”. For 2025, Eden already has loads in store, she tells us, visibly excited about releasing more music and playing more shows: “It’s the first time I’ve done it far enough in advance where I feel like I’ve written all the music that I kind of want to put out!”
Eden’s unique voice, along with her “patchwork persona” and her vulnerability in songwriting, make her one of the most interesting rising artists and we are thrilled to hear and see even more of her in the future.
Written by Vicky Madzak
GEM Magazine 