Our music editor, Naoise Osborne, got the chance to chat to EDEN. The Dublin-born 24-year-old has just released his second full length album, no future. In the lead up to a run of shows at Dublin’s The Olympia, we chatted touring, Dublin’s music scene and song-writing.

 

You’ve had a whirlwind few years, travelling and touring a lot, doing a world tour and several tours of the US. What has that been like for you? Are the shows getting bigger each time, more of a production or an event?

Yeah, it’s been a pretty wild ride. The first time I played in London was a free concert for 200 people. The second time was to, maybe, 400 or 500, and the third time was to 2400. And then, the kind of show we have been able to put on has also gotten to an amazing level. I can’t wait to play this new show we’re working on for the first time.

What has been your favourite place to play so far?

There was something really special about my first show in Dublin at The Academy Green Room. There was also a show I played in Brussels years ago at a Botanical Gardens that was pretty amazing.

Is there anywhere that’s on your bucket list to play? Anywhere you’ve dreamed of playing?           

I’d really like to get to South America and Asia. I’ve done festivals in Japan and Korea, but I’d really like to do my own shows out there. Honestly, the biggest dream was to do the 3Arena and Brixton Academy; I’ve done Brixton and I don’t think I’ll ever get to the 3Arena because of the direction I’ve gone in, so I’m pretty content to be honest. I’m at a pretty great level.                                                                   

What are your thoughts on the Dublin music scene? A lot of artists feel the need to go to London or the states to get their big break. But a lot of your work has been done or based here; is there something about Dublin that is conducive to or contrary to the creative process, in your experience?

When I started making music there really wasn’t much of a scene – at least that I was aware of. Fast forward to now and it’s really buzzing. I think Dublin has always been a hotbed for artists and musicians, but for this new generation of artists it’s just taken a while to establish communities and a sense of shared culture. For me back in 2014-2016 I was either looking in the wrong places or it just wasn’t really there.

Following on from the above, do you have any advice for artists in Dublin, or anywhere, trying to break into the music scene?

Keep pushing. No one can find your work if it’s not in the world, and once you start that don’t stop. Avoid the hesitancy to hoard things ‘til the ‘time is right’ or ‘til you have the right backing/support etc. If you believe in it just go, the world will follow.

I wanted to talk to you obviously about no future and the process around that. What was the writing process like for you? You’ve been writing, mixing and releasing tracks for quite some time now, has your writing process or your approach to writing changed over time?

Yes definitely. I think once I moved from my parents house in Dublin a few years ago I really stopped being able to write songs on a piano or guitar because I have been moving so much. That’s something I really want to get back to. Aside from that I’ve really transferred a lot of the in-the-box things I was doing (synthesis etc) to hardware synths. I don’t have a massive collection or anything but I find it’s so much nicer to work with physical things and the ones I do have sound gorgeous. Kind of a similar reason to wanting to get back to playing piano and guitar more.

I kind of wanted to chat to you too about the production side of it, mixing and mastering, and your decision to keep everything in-house I suppose – a lot of artist as things get bigger, as the fan bases and the streams grow, the other sides of it get bigger too and grow but can kind of potentially lose a sense of intimacy in doing so. You don’t let any outsiders into that process – why is that?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I think collaboration is amazing and leads you to great places, but I always end up starting so much by myself that I don’t want to let people in. I like having control and ownership of it. But I’m really considering striking up a partnership with someone since I’m moving so much to help keep moving on the creation process. Someone I can send things to to mix etc while I’m on the road and can’t really do that side of things. But I’ve also just bought studio speakers to bring on the road so well see if that really pans out.

Were there any particular inspirations that you drew on when writing and creating this album? Experiences, or other artists you drew on?

I was listening to a lot of Negro Swan by Blood Orange and a tonne of Yung Lean and Ben Howard. The album actually ended up being quite retrospective in terms of experiences.

You’ve also had a really like, interactive relationship with fans – I remember after I think you think too much of me, scrolling through comments and people were theorising about what the 9 words were and where they appeared, then there’s the 360degree music video for ‘drugs’, the coordinates treasure hunt thing for ‘Gold’…where did this kind of interaction stem from?

I honestly just liked the intrigue that the puzzles created in the beginning, and the fans just really got on board with it all. They go through the source code of all of our websites etc etc. It can be quite intense but it’s a blessing to have people who are that dedicated. People are still asking about those 9 words 4 years later.

Can we expect more of this with no future?

I think the no future campaign felt right being a little more straightforward. There were things like the mcmxcv.eu site that we used to tease out information etc, but no big scavenger hunt or anything. Might make a return to that going forward though.

What are you most looking forward to in 2020, and what do you want people’s main take-away to be from no future?

I am looking forward to continuing to create things. From the live show (that has really become a massive art project) to more music I’m really excited about how everything is feeling. In terms of the album, I want people to feel like things keep going, even when it feels like the end. That was something I definitely wanted to achieve musically. There’s an ‘it goes on’-ness to everything in my mind. This is all just a platform for the next thing.

You can find EDEN’s latest album on all streaming platforms.