Eden @ The Sinclair

by Jakob Farnham
2016-10-27

Eden @ The Sinclair

Eden

October 11th, 2016 at The Sinclair
By: Jakob Farnham and Elizabeth Pratusevich

Solo artist Eden visited The Sinclair in Cambridge on October 11th as part of his Futurebound tour supporting his first full-length album, I Think You Think Too Much of Me. The Irish artist was accompanied by special guest Elohim, a mysterious electronic guru based in L.A.

Elohim has been on the rise since the release of her first electronic single, “Xanax”, and this concert showed Bostonians why. As with most openers, she was received with curiosity and minor indifference, but the intimidating silence did not daunt her as she opened up her set methodically with slower more relaxed tracks that flowed seamlessly into one another. Elohim performed impersonally and detached herself by removing all direct contact with the audience, only communicating electronically. Playing without any audience interaction is not uncommon for an opening act, but her stage presence was purposefully polarizing. She quietly built the energy in the room until it exploded with booming bass and heavy drops in the middle of her set. The change was palpable and seen in the reaction of the audience, with everyone nodding in approval, those closer to the stage even breaking into full out dance.

Elohim threw the audience for a complete loop with her next song, removing all electronic voice changers in order to cover the iconic “No Rain” by Blind Melon. While this was a testament to her range as a performer, it was largely out of character and slightly disillusioned the crowd as the performance went on. Elohim was by no means a poor performer, but there is quite a bit for her to learn in order to truly captivate audiences the way an EDM artist is expected to.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Eden’s set was personal, even intimate, and well suited for the space in which it occurred. After performing his first song, “Sex”, Jon Ng took a quick break to inform the audience that he had a throat infection and wouldn’t be able to hit the high notes. Even though this dampened the mood, when he resumed playing the crowd sang along even stronger than before.

One of the first songs that garnered Eden recognition was a cover of “Billie Jean,” and his performance of it enticed enthusiastic shouts from the crowd. While Eden usually plays dance music, his cover of “Hey Ya” by OutKast almost brought on tears and took until the chorus to recognize. It was oddly emotional – performed with only a guitar and his voice, a hauntingly beautiful combination.

Eden finished his set with “XO” but as soon as he thanked the crowd and walked off stage, the audience began chanting, “Rock and Roll,” the title of the only song that had not been played off of I Think You Think Too Much of Me. The clamor continued until he jumped back on stage and performed, capping off a set packed with emotion. A community was created during the two hours that Eden was playing, coming together to show love for an artist who is on the rise with no sign of slowing down.