Eden (AUS)

(official homepage)

EDEN is a Darkwave band that was formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1988 by singer-songwriter Sean Bowley and multi-instrumentalist Pieter Bourke.

EDEN’s debut performance was at the Baden Powell Hotel in Melbourne, Australia. The band quickly established a local following that saw them perform regularly as a fixture in Melbourne’s burgeoning alternative music scene.

EDEN’s initial 12 inch EP ‘The Light Between Worlds’ was released in 1990 on Nightshift Records, Scotland. The EP caught the attention of BBC Radio’s John Peel who featured tracks on his show, resulting in rapid support of EDEN by The Alternative Press Magazine in the USA. A 7” single version of ‘Searching for Angel’s Hands’ was released by Ultimate Records Australia the same year, broadening EDEN’s growing supporter base through a live appearance on Australia’s national music TV series Countdown Revolution.

In 1991 EDEN moved to London based label Third Mind Records who continued to grow the band’s profile in Europe and the USA through the 1992 release of their first full length album ‘Gateway to the Mysteries’ (released in Australia under Elysium/Shock Records). The album was described by the music press as sounding akin to ‘the Cocteau Twins had they existed in the 1890s‘. A second LP ‘Wearyall’ was recorded under the Third Mind label but remains unreleased. In 1993 EDEN joined the roster of Projekt Records, USA releasing the ‘Healingbow’ mini-album.

In 1993, EDEN established a new lineup, Bourke leaving the band as drummer Peter Barrett, keyboardist Paul Machlis, guitarist Tracy Ellerton and bassist Ewan McArthur joined Bowley to form the next iteration of EDEN. ‘Fire and Rain’, EDEN’s second studio album under the Projekt label was released in 1994. Allmusic’s Ned Raggett found the new lineup’s music to be “an intriguing sonic palette, extending the goth/psych tendencies of Bowley’s particular muse to their logical conclusions”. This, the band’s third album showcased EDEN’s distinctive sound – characterised by Legends Magazine as ‘dark and richly atmospheric… demonstrating that the band should not be categorised for any one sound prevalent within the Goth movement…. as they have mastered them all’. The same year EDEN released ‘Earthbound’ – an LP of remixes and rarities on Viridian Records (Melbourne, AU). In 1996, EDEN recorded the ‘Midnight Sun’ LP which remains unreleased. Bassist Stephen Wattie completed the lineup for the ‘Stone Cat’ mini-album which was subsequently released on Heartland Records (Melbourne, AU) in 1997.

EDEN re-formed in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia and once again established themselves as regular performers in the alternative music scene. The distinctive EDEN sound, this iteration delivered by a lineup comprising Sean Bowley (Vocals, 6 & 12 string guitars), Andrew Kutzer (6 string guitar) and Matthew Sigley (bass guitar, drum machine and keyboards) culminated in ‘The Edge of Winter’ LP (Seraphyne Records, AU) was launched in June 2017 at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany.

EDEN currently perform as Sean Bowley (vocals, 6 & 12 string guitars) and Anthony Cornish (6 & 12 string guitars, keyboards, drum machine). The EDEN-REVENANT synergy forms the core of a continually evolving EDEN, performing material drawn both from early EDEN releases and new material to be released in 2020.

In live performance EDEN have shared the stage in Australia and overseas with Rowland S. Howard, These Immortal Souls, Lycia, Love Spirals Downward, Attrition, Heligoland, Ostia and countless others. EDEN undertook a promotional visit to the UK (1990) and an extensive tour of live dates in the USA (1996). In 2017 EDEN performed live at Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in Leipzig.