Earlier this week, Eden J Howells – songwriter, artist, and founder of Queer Creatives London – put on a fantastic gig at Colours Hoxton in London. Unfortunately I was not there; the heatwave was triggering my POTS, making me anxious to travel by train, and it was too hot to take Daisy with me, which only made me more anxious (there was a warning on travel but I only reluctantly admitted defeated at the last possible moment). But I’ve been scrolling though the videos and photos on social media and oh my god, it looks like an incredible night. Eden is a fantastic indie-folk singersongwriter and if you haven’t listened to their music, I highly recommend doing so (my favourite is ‘aphrodite‘ but it’s a tough choice). Between Eden, their band, and multiple very cool special guests, the videos are a musical feast and I’m experiencing major FOMO but I’m very grateful to be able to at least get a peak at all of the stunning performances. The night was in aid of Eden’s fundraiser for top surgery and just watching these videos, I can feel the supportive atmosphere through my phone screen. It’s really moving to see people showing up for each other and the event raised over £4,000! This has been a huge leap forward for the fundraiser and the goal is definitely in sight – if you’d like to know more about it and read Eden’s story, then you can find it here…

“Hello dear friend/kind stranger. My name’s Eden (they/them), I’m a 25 year old transmasc musician and community organiser from London. And I’m fundraising to get top surgery! I came out as non-binary in 2021 and started taking T in 2023. Top surgery is something I’ve wanted since I figured out I was trans, but I’ll be honest, it’s taken me a while to muster up the courage to share that with the world. But yay me for being brave! Here we go…” (x)

I’m very aware that many of us don’t have a lot of much money right now so if you can’t donate, that’s totally okay but if you can share the fundraiser, I would appreciate it and I know that Eden really would too. I don’t know them well – we’ve met a couple of times at gigs – but they are a wonderful person and a fantastic singersongwriter. And on a personal note, I think that it’s so, so important to see queer, trans, and/or neurodivergent people writing about their lives because their music gives people – so many people who have rarely heard their feelings and experiences reflected back to them in the music they listen to – validation, representation, and a safe space. This is something that has been such a central theme throughout my life, as both a listener and a songwriter – it’s something I strive for in my own music – and so it’s very inspiring to see people like Eden creating such beautiful work, especially as an independent artist. This whole topic could be a blog post of its own but I’ll stop there before I get too far down that particular rabbit hole… As I’ve already said, if you haven’t listened to Eden’s music, I highly recommend it and if you are able to, you can support them and their music here, where you can find their show dates and merch. They also have a Patreon if that’s more your kind of thing. Check out their song ‘people watching‘ here…

Thank you for reading (and hopefully listening!) and stay safe in this heatwave!