Q&A: Edie Bens and The Story Behind Her New EP, ‘Songs for Myfanwy’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SAMANTHA SORIA ☆
WELSH ROOTS AND UNIVERSAL TRUTHS — There’s an innocence and maturity laced in Edie Bens’ voice as soon as you press play on one of her songs. She’ll have you closing your eyes and gently accepting her hand as she guides you through swelling melodies and breathtaking lyrics that’ll leave you looking inward or stepping into someone else’s shoes, something that the Welsh singer prides herself on as a songwriter.
“I think it would be such a shame to only write about my own [experience]; there are so many amazing stories, and people go through such crazy things,” Edie shares.
On her upcoming EP Songs for Myfanwy, Edie wears her heart on her sleeve as she navigates the multitudes of love, loss, home, and self-discovery. More than just a collection of personal storytelling, it’s a brilliant showcase of her artistry as a writer and how she reinterprets a tragic 14th-century Welsh tale of unrequited love into her own on “Hard to Handle,” creating a universal truth that resonates deeply and leaves a lasting impression on all who listen.
In an interview with The Luna Collective, Edie takes me through the making of Songs for Myfanwy, the importance of empathy in songwriting, musical influences, her dream of performing at the iconic Red Rocks, and much more. Read our interview below to learn more.
LUNA: You’ve cited Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell as influences, yet you’ve carved out a sound that’s very much uniquely your own. How do you balance your love of classic songwriters with more modern production and themes?
EDIE: I've always tried to write songs—I don't know if there is a traditional way—just on guitar, often by myself in a bedroom or at home. But when it comes to production, I've worked with the same people. I've been very lucky that two of my best friends and I have produced all the records together that I've ever worked on. I've also listened to a lot of music. I'm a big fan of dance records, and we nicked a lot of synth ideas for a more modern approach in that sense.
LUNA: I’m such a sucker for synth. It’s my favorite instrument. It’s so unique, different, and weird. It’s almost in every genre, like right there in the background, you know?
EDIE: Yeah, I feel like they're very human, in my mind, because you can modulate them so much. It's like they breathe, which is a weird thing to say. But synth is definitely where we've tried to push a bit of modern music into the production.
LUNA: I know you’ve mentioned Maggie Rogers as an influence, and Maggie plays with that as well. She’s a great lyricist, storyteller, and all-around great artist. But she has such a way of bringing in this Carol King-ness and that modern dance club pop.
EDIE: Yeah, she's a massive influence of mine, and especially in that way. I think something she said, which I have really related to, is that when she went to university, she discovered dance music. When I went to uni, it was my first time going out. I'm from a really small town in Wales, and I went to Brighton, and it was my first time clubbing. That music is so fun, and I really want to try and put that feeling of enjoyment in my music, and also, when it comes to playing shows, it is fun to play a song that's a bit more dancey or has more movement in it than necessarily just finger picking and playing a folk song. So I try my hardest to balance my two loves.
LUNA: Yeah, because you definitely need a break sometimes from the sad ballads.
EDIE: Acoustic guitar fatigue is a thing. I’m really lucky to have such amazing songwriter friends, and we do nights where we play songs to each other, but after a while, we’re like, Oh my god, too much acoustic guitar [laughs].
LUNA: When you’re crafting a song, is the guitar usually the basis of how you start those songs, or do you also dabble with other instruments?
EDIE: I’m a really bad piano player. I wish I could play piano, but I don’t have the patience to learn properly [laughs]. So, I’d say ninety percent of my songs start on guitar. I also write on my phone a lot. I’ll just be walking or on a run or doing something in the car, and I’ll come up with an idea. I’ll write a whole song just in my notes app, and then I’ll figure out the chords for what I’m singing afterwards.
LUNA: In 2023, you did an interview on “Name 3 Songs.” It was such a great conversation, and there was one thing that really stuck out to me. You talked about growing up surrounded by your dad’s love of cars and how you spent a lot of time listening to his CDs, from Garth Brooks to Dolly Parton. There was something really touching about that because it’s like your passion for music grew in parallel with his passion for cars and driving.
EDIE: Yeah, I’m so lucky. I grew up in a really small place, and my dad has always loved cars; it’s his life. He used to sort of race them, and then when he didn't have enough money to do that, he'd buy broken ones, fix them, and sell them. He really made sure that his life was about cars. I don't think that if I hadn't had a role model like him, I would have been able to even try or give a crack at following a dream and having a passion, because in the place I come from, everyone has a craft, like a carpenter or a plumber. I was super lucky to see my dad really passionate about something, and then feel like I almost have permission to be passionate about my own thing, and also, he gets it, which is so nice.
LUNA: Those times when you spent listening to, maybe it was like those two artists, or maybe there were more, how did it shape your musical DNA, and how do you now approach storytelling in your songs?
EDIE: I think listening to songs in a car, going somewhere, and hearing stories is basically all I ever want to recreate. So it's sort of pivotal in how I make music, and I think it's really important to me for songs to feel like a journey. And I think the car and those types of songs that we were listening to in the car, like, mainly country music, are a part of why I write like I do.
LUNA: Was there a particular song or moment when you were with him that sticks out to you now, whether it's when you're writing or performing?
EDIE: There’s this Eagles song called “Desperado,” which is one of my favorite songs in the world, and it's one of my dad's favorites. We always played it. He has never been married or settled down, and the song always reminded me of him because it's kind of about someone who won't settle down. I always wanted to sing it, so in the car, I'd practice every time, and he'd give me notes.
I think we were driving to France and I was trying to sing “Desperado” and I think I sang it maybe eighty times to try and get it right because there was a bit that I couldn’t get right. It’s such a core memory in my mind of how much I wanted to do music and be as good at it as I could be because I was willing to painstakingly sing this song over and over again until my dad was like, “Yeah, you did a good job!”
LUNA: In that same interview, you also touched on your songwriting journey and how it began. Please tell me more about this bright, purple, sparkly guitar that you were gifted? I know that it took some time for you to pick up. Did that come first, or did listening to music in the car come first?
EDIE: I became a fan of music by listening to music, but I learned I could sing quite early on. I was at school, and we were all singing together in this little choir. For some reason, I decided that I wanted to sing by myself. I asked the teacher, “Everyone sucks; can I please sing the song by myself?” Which is the most outrageous thing ever! But she did let me sing on stage by myself, so that’s where the sort of beast got created.
I didn’t start writing songs until I got the purple guitar. Before then, I think I was making stuff up, but I hadn’t ever sat down and written a song. Essentially, I think I was about 10 or 11; it was just before I went to secondary school. I asked my mum if I could have a guitar for Christmas. Very kindly, she took me to a little guitar shop in Swansea, and we bought the cheapest guitar, which was this horrific purple, sparkly guitar that was so plastic. I think it’s called Gypsy Rose or something like that. It had a rose on the headstock, and it’s the most awful purple color. I took that home, and I couldn’t play it, because I didn’t have the patience at first [laughs]. So, I started making my own songs. That’s how I got into writing songs, because I was too impatient to spend time learning other people’s songs, but eventually, I did learn.
LUNA: You’ve described yourself as an empathetic writer. There’s something so powerful about that, especially in folk music, where the most moving songs often come from feeling for others, not just telling your own story. This is something that is prevalent not only in your songwriting but also in your tone. Can you talk to me about what empathy means to you as a songwriter? Have there been moments where connecting with someone else’s story helped make sense of your own?
EDIE: I think when I started writing songs, I was really young, and I hadn’t had a relationship or gone through a lot of big things that a lot of songs are about. So, when I started, I was, like, stealing ideas from books and films because I wanted to write songs about these big girl emotions, but I hadn’t necessarily experienced them. And as life has gone on and I’ve gotten older and experienced some of those things, I think it would be such a shame to only write about my own; there are so many amazing stories, and people go through such crazy things.
I love hearing other people’s stories and wanting to write about them. I think I’ve often written songs about what I think is someone else’s story. I’ll be like, That’s an amazing scene, in something like Normal People, and I’ll write a song about that, and then a year later, be like, Oh, wait! Maybe this was actually about this thing that I was going through that I hadn’t worked out yet. I think I do that a lot. I’ll write a song and be like, It’s not about me, and then a week later, like, Oh my God, it is about me!
LUNA: So, let’s talk about the EP—Songs for Myfanwy. I looked it up, and it means beloved, right? It’s like a choir song, a hymn?
EDIE: It’s a traditional folk song. I think it was originally sung by one person and would have been a lot more folky than it has become because now; it’s probably one of the most popular songs that the Welsh male voice choirs do, and it’s sort of hymn vibes in its big sounds.
LUNA: It’s so beautiful, too. I found this video on YouTube, and I listened to it and followed the lyrics, and it tells such a really sad story!
EDIE: It’s actually so sad! So, my granddad, I never met him; he actually died on the same day I was born, which is insane. He was really into choirs, and my dad has this recording of the choir singing with Myfanwy. It’s just the most gorgeous and emotive thing. It’s my favorite Welsh song.
LUNA: Can I just say that this EP received a standing ovation from me at my desk? The storytelling? Amazing. Voice? Superb. The production? Five stars. Talk to me about how this EP came about and the process behind it, from beginning to end.
EDIE: I wrote most of the songs in quite a quick time, and then “Baby Blue” and “Hard to Handle” were added on later because I wanted the EP to reflect my past and present self, as it took quite a long time for it to come out. That’s why we added the two extra songs. I didn’t realize at the time, but I wrote the songs about similar themes: my tendency to fall for people I know will mess up the relationship because I’m definitely scared of commitment. That is basically the EP [laughs]. There is one love song, “Baby Blue,” where I think, Okay, maybe I can do this. But the rest of them express my fear of loving people.
LUNA: It’s so cohesive!
EDIE: I’m really stringent about recording a project in the same place. We recorded all the songs in the same studio around the same time, except for two of them. I really love it when things are cohesive. We really tried to use the same instruments, the same microphones, all of the same equipment, and the same people on all the songs so that there was some kind of link.
LUNA: “Baby Blue” and “Hard to Handle,” you said those were the last two. What was the time frame on those?
EDIE: I think it was a year between when we recorded the first bunch of songs and those two. They had been written around a similar time; it was just that they were slightly later and weren’t necessarily going to be on the project at first, but we managed to sneak them on.
LUNA: Every song on this EP stands so incredibly strong, but a personal favorite of mine and one I can’t stop playing is “Hard to Handle.” We’ve already talked about this, but it was inspired by the famous Welsh choir song, and it was one where you interpreted some of the original lyrics. I just want to hug it. It’s so beautiful.
EDIE: I write a lot of songs, but there was something about that one when we wrote it. I was with one of my really good friends and another guy, and we were in a house. I started playing the chorus and thought, This is the best chorus I’ve ever written! [laughs]. We wrote the whole song, and when I got home, I was like, It’s not good enough! So I completely redid the verses, and that’s when I started thinking about the Welsh song and how I could put it in. I think out of all the songs I’ve worked on, that’s maybe the one we’ve spent the most time on because I was obsessed with it and wanted to get it as close to what was in my mind, especially when recording with the strings and the harmonies. It’s my baby! [laughs].
LUNA: I know that “Hard to Handle” is your baby, but do you have a personal favorite? Is there another one that you love?
EDIE: “Better Without You.” It’s very different. It’s quite pop in comparison to a lot of the EP, but I have a love for that song as well. I think it’s really fun, and to play it live, it always makes me feel better if I’m having a rubbish performance. When I start playing that, I’m like, Okay, I’m in the groove now!
LUNA: Obviously, aside from recording these songs, have you gotten the chance to practice all of them live, and if so, which ones have you most excited for fans to hear?
EDIE: So I’ve played all the songs on the EP except “Doing Better Without You” in a live setting. Just before we recorded the last two songs on the EP, I had been on a tour in the UK for about three weeks, and I played them every night. Sometimes you record stuff so quickly after writing it that you still don’t know it, but I really felt like I knew those songs, and that’s why I loved recording them so much. But I haven’t played “Doing Better Without You” yet. We have a show that I haven’t announced yet; I think it’s going to be the first week of October in London, where we’re going to play the EP from start to finish as it was recorded.
LUNA: When I was listening to this EP, it got me thinking about when you get to perform it live. I know for a fact that all these songs are gonna sound so amazing, but I also learned that one of your dream venues to perform at is Red Rocks, and I really hope this comes true for you because I think these songs would sound incredible there. It got me thinking, Who can she go on tour with? Who can she open up for? And I thought of Niall Horan. I don’t know if you listen to him, do you?
EDIE: Yeah! I met him once. It was so random. He was working in a studio near a place I was working, and I opened the door and it was Niall Horan, and I was like, Oh my gosh!
LUNA: One of your producers, I think, worked with him, right?
EDIE: Yeah! The place that I’ve been lucky to record a lot of stuff has been involved in some of the One Direction songs, like early days and some of their solo projects, and yeah, he works there, so I’ve seen him there a few times and been like [gasps].
LUNA: I feel like you would be a really good opener for him because he, too, plays with that folk sound, especially on his album Flicker, and I’m like, How can I call Niall up? Let’s get Edie on tour with him! [laughs].
EDIE: Yeah, who knows! Crazy things have happened. Manifesting that and Red Rocks. I want to play there. I’ve never been, I haven’t really been to America that much, but I really, really need to go.
LUNA: Let’s get you on a tour and let’s get you there to open for these big acts. It would be great!
EDIE: Niall Horan at Red Rocks. Why not? [laughs].
LUNA: When you look at your musical evolution, from when you released your single “The First One” in 2019, your EP Playing Pretend in 2023, to now, what have you learned as an artist, and what do you hope to see as you continue to grow?
EDIE: I was thinking about this the other day. I think the biggest thing I keep trying to learn, and I’m still on a journey with it, is allowing space in songs. A lot of my early projects were very lyric-driven and melody-driven, and I would cram in as many words as I could. Recently, I’ve tried to lie back and allow a song to breathe. It can have an instrumental part or a guitar solo; I don’t always need to be singing or saying something. Space can say something too. I think that’s what I’m trying to do and take into the next project.
