This past Thursday, the 19th of June, I had the pleasure to see Eden J Howells once again on stage. Eden's folky sound and voice have the power to transport the audience from the venue to the tunnel scene in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).
Howells's setlist, accidentally or not, was curated like a story, going from ‘honey‘ – a song about getting over an ex but also growing into yourself – to ‘aphrodite‘ – which relates to the feeling of being scared to give yourself to someone new but wanting to do it anyway – it felt like a 'coming of age'.
Eden's story telling is brilliant and refreshing to see. I always love seeing reoccurring feelings in my life be represented in music, specially feelings we tend to brush off or even feel ashamed of. In ‘living lonely‘, the London-based artist, describes the feeling of moving back home and feeling like you're missing out but also missing the person you get to be when you're not home. I believe this to be such a common feeling, specially amongst queer people. The way this song is delivered in beautiful vocals and soothing harmonies feels like a warm blanket, or a comforting talk with your 16 year-old self. In the same train of feelings we don't talk enough about, Eden performs ‘berlin‘, a song about feeling nostalgic for a time that never happened. For Eden, it's about the idea – that never became real – of moving to Berlin with someone they were seeing at the time, but I think everyone has a similar story they can apply to it. In this day and age where we can see what everyone is doing all the time, and comparing it to our lives, it's really easy to fall for the grass is greener trick.
My personal highlights of the night were ‘too sick‘, a perfect song for the long train journeys where you think about everything you've ever done and everything you've ever said to everyone ever, and ‘ordinary‘ with vocals and a melody that brought tears to my eyes – literally. Eden finished the show with one of their first songs ‘nice enough‘, which got the audience singing along and clapping for more; and they delivered, finishing the set with ‘the ceiling.‘
From the last show in November to this one, Eden's progression as an artist is crystal clear. Howells is such a delight to see perform, from their amazing voice, funny stories in between songs to their obvious and contagious enjoyment of performing. Eden is an artist you won't want to miss. You can find ticket for their next headline show here.
PHOTOS BY ANA PINTO
WORDS BY BEATRIZ G
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