Artist Interview: Eva Penney

By Rosie Burgess | December 9, 2023

Words by Aimee Vines

On a slightly gloomy evening, I was invited into Eva Penney’s cosy blue bedroom to chat with her for Resonate. The original collage of her Don’t Be Alarmed If Anythings Different EP cover framed behind us, Eva Penney sits at her desk, a violin bow resting haphazardly against it. An array of plants decorate her windowsill, and a few copies of her CDs stand against a pot with a sad-looking plant wilting in it. Eva’s room looks exactly as you’d imagine if her EP cover was a bedroom. Cosied up, while Eva baked some apple turnovers, we discussed her music, her DIY style, and who Eva Penney is. 

Born in South-West Devon, Eva Penney is a folk indie musician whose music is so delicately authentic that each of her songs reminisces on emotions and moments. Her lyrics are painstakingly beautiful, adorned with metaphors and rhymes about key points in her life. Eva’s gorgeous yet harrowing music style takes inspiration from the likes of Lianne La Havas and Dodie, who both acted as a helping hand when Eva began branching into her own taste.

Like most musicians, Eva’s path into music was born from her love of simply listening to music. She reminisced sweetly about her Dad listening to CDs whilst he cooked, which young Eva swore there were thousands of, but her Dad limited to her favourites – Fleet Foxes, Simon & Garfunkel and the rare Christmas CD in December. Those evenings spent cooking dinner created Eva’s love for singing, an aspect of her life that has remained unchanged. However, as a seven-year-old, her desire to play music began when she and her childhood friend took violin lessons together, something that didn’t last, but henceforth, Eva’s love for playing music was born. 

‘I’m going to get my apple turnovers out of the oven,’ Eva popped up and jogged to the oven, letting out a loud ‘woooo!’ as the comforting scent of homemade pastries escaped with the hot air. Like Eva’s music, the smell was soothing and felt like a warm blanket over your shoulders on a nippy day. Politely returning with a plate of apple turnovers, cream cheese and honey, we continued, and I asked her, ‘How has your music changed in the last 18 months since moving to Bristol?’ 

Her answer was, ‘I’ve gotten really into post-punk.’ It’s evident in her unreleased tracks like The Fight, where the song’s topic is ‘a fight at my local pub,’ as the lyrics say, but it still dances heavily on your heartstrings. However, she finds that it’s not necessarily deemed ‘cool’ to be a soloist as bands dominate the Bristol scene; she gingerly admits that soloists aren’t necessarily in her current rotation, whereas bands like Squid, Do Nothing, and Humour are. Surrounded by bands who perform within the post-punk genre, Eva’s music incorporates a more spoken style, exemplified in the song she’s just finished writing. 

Bristol has positioned Eva in the middle of so many musicians that sometimes it can be intimidating for her. Surrounded by the newest and freshest sounds and submerged into a million genres was something South-West Devon didn’t offer her. Before moving north, she only had four songs she was pleased with, whereas now she has tripled that. She states this results from “the mixture of the pressures that come with being around other musicians as well as the excess of inspiration that comes with being surrounded by musicians.” She simply says, “Life has changed so much, and there’s so much more to write about.” 

Subsequently, 2023’s Don’t Be Alarmed If Anything’s Different was born. Eva finds reassurance by having her projects to attend to, so much that it affects her mental health not to have a project to focus on. So, her EP is Eva’s biggest project to date. Eva tells me the idea of releasing an EP came about in March 2023 after being offered an array of headline shows. It began as an idea she’d fantasise about and “think about at night before going to bed.” Feeding off genuine excitement, she thought about every minor detail, from the songs to the artwork and the announcement, 

Eva pointed out that the EP doesn’t necessarily consist of her favourite tracks but five tracks where the voice memos she used on them sounded ‘listenable.’ The voice memos used were not professionally re-recorded; they all stayed true to the moment Eva wrote the songs. It was essential that she was “happy with other people hearing the chosen voice memos”, resulting in only five songs on the EP. The aspect that unknowingly makes the EP so much more emotive and delicate is the voice memos being recorded as the inspiration for the songs. I’m Free, in particular, was written at the height of a breakup. Working in such an intimate way with old recordings allowed Eva to reminisce on past ideas.

To maintain the stripped-back style that Eva so perfectly achieves, she recruited Tara, professionally known as Teajay, who is a close friend, to help produce the tracks. This made it possible for the songs to be adjusted in the exact ways she wanted them. The announcement of the EP on April 1st and the release date of April 8th gave Teajay just over a week to tweak these tracks perfectly. Meanwhile, Eva posted daily announcing the tracks with miniature essays about each song to create buzz around the full release.

“It wasn’t a calm process, but that’s what I liked about it,” Eva smiled, looking back at the framed cover photo, a collage of photos with significance to each track. Most notably, a photo of a book that inspired the track Didn’t Ask.  She says, “Despite not spending months on it, I’m proud, and everything means something.” She continues, and in a moment of reminiscence, Eva tells me that her track 7sa is one of the best things she’s made. The song was written last November. It talks about her experience of being virtually homeless when she arrived in Bristol, the friends who gave her a place to stay, the warmness of the memories, and the tenderness it left. 

Eva’s EP is ridden with memories, every song reminiscent of times in her life. Eva told me that her worst fear is losing her memory, and her music, her excess of photos and her signature camcorder are tied to this creative work. Suppose you’ve attended any Eva Penney show. In that case, you’d know she creates an evident intimacy with the audience, structured by her need to express her emotions while performing and the memories she communicates with the people listening. She tells me about her track Honesty, one of her favourite tracks to perform due to how painful the topics she sings about are. It is cathartic; Eva sings with such sincerity and hurt in her voice, completely lost in the music as she relives these times. 

If you’re lucky, you’ve got a CD copy of Don’t Be Alarmed If Anything’s Different. These numbered CDs include a handmade mini-book of illustrations from Eva herself that portray critical moments in each song. The CDs, which only came out in November, were born from a summertime walk with Eva’s family for her dad’s birthday. As she complained about her restlessness, her brother suggested CDs – which catapulted Eva into production, including a bonus track and an alternate version of 7sa.

Currently, Eva is gigging around Bristol, playing alongside the likes of other folk artists. Each performance is exceptional and will make you go on a bittersweet ride of pain, beauty and sincerity – make sure you catch this thoughtful and fantastic artist.