Long awaited ‘no future’ is EDEN’s love letter to his fans

EDEN

no future

MCMXCV LTD. · February 14, 2020

After two years of waiting and months of song teasers such as “projector,” “love, death, and distraction,” and “untitled,” fans have long awaited EDEN’s sophomore album. no future, released on Valentine’s Day, is EDEN’s love letter to his fans, or at the very least, the most romantic gesture that EDEN could give his fans.

Though this may be EDEN’s second album, he’s been making tracks for over seven years and is no stranger to what it takes to make music. With no future, EDEN strikes a fine balance between experimenting with new tactics and flavors of music and building on melodies and sounds of his past discography. The album juxtaposes the slower moments with vocals, piano, and guitar, and the electronic pop-funk beats that drive home each and every song, thus building a complex experience to the listener. “hertz” and “just saying” both showcase this balance, with a slow build-up with the tension and subtle build-up with electronic melodies. The pacing of the music is thoughtfully crafted, as there are moments of rest that actually bring more momentum as the beats pick up to carry us to the end.

Alongside the textured build-up of ambient harmonies and electronic melodies, EDEN brings in new samples with his songs such as “in,” “how to sleep,” and “untitled,” as his songs often have some kind of samples from interviews, movies, and EDEN’s general interest. Such songs have a sense of being pieced together. Along with EDEN’s general experimentation on vocals, the choppiness of cuts in “fomo” and different harmonies are stitched together to create an experience both disoriented yet familiar. The complexity in each song is amplified through this Frankenstein esque creation, which differs greatly from the sounds familiar in his previous album and EPs, yet rooted from the same spirit as vertigo and i think you think too much of me.

no future is carefully thought out as a whole, as though the pattern of build-up and momentum are placed alongside with interludes such as “in” that serves as transition between “good morning” and “hertz”, and much gentler songs that lead into much heavier song, such as “projector” and “love, death, distraction” placed next to each other. This careful consideration of creating not just an album, but a journey and story to be experienced is similar to older works such as End Credits and i think you think too much of me, yet has much more sophistication and richness in each song.

However, EDEN’s lyrics in the album have been more abstract. The sense of story within the lyrics differs greatly from vertigo where lyrics were more clearly understood for the pain and the emotion in each song. Yet there are very powerful moments in the album, such as “2020” and “just saying,” with very emotional intros about post-relationship moments. The abstractness of some songs gives vagueness that may make it difficult to understand the full meaning of the song and album. It can be difficult to tie the songs together merely through lyrics alone. Despite this, the album seems to slowly reveal itself with each new listen through, and the lyrics start to give away meaning.

In general, no future presents itself as both a culmination to the old works of EDEN as well as bringing back an electronic style from his days as Eden Project with new ideas. The music is textured and builds up an experiential journey through his work. Almost as if drifting through EDEN’s thoughts and emotions, each song building on top of each other. no future is not easily understandable at first, but that’s not a bad thing. It requires listening through it multiple times and to sit with it.