On the release of debut album The New Eve is Rising, the ferociously mesmerising quartet offer a glimpse into the wilderness between their lyrics and explosive live performances. The New Eves have sparked intrigue amidst a myriad of music enthusiasts, earning a reputation for their dynamic live performances and curious world-building. They make what could be a confused portmanteau of traditional folk, spoken word and untamed rock into a mesmerising fantasy. The band captivate both yearning teens and Six Music dads across the UK.
Their sound is a far cry from the 2010s skinny-jean resurgence or the post-ironic soup currently simmering through much of the scene. Instead, The New Eves draw inspiration from one another, creating an intuitive and intricate feedback loop of literature, theatrical performance, folklore, and music all (quite literally, when it comes to their on-stage looks) tied together with lace and ribbon.
Made up of vocalist Nina Winder-Lind, drummer and flautist Ella Oona Russell, bassist Kate Mager, and violinist, guitarist, and dancer Violet Farrer, The New Eves culminate in a well-versed, many-headed beast connected by powerful veins of reference. They’re part Patti Smith, part Angela Carter, glimpses of Sophia Coppola with a touch of Kate Bush’s mesmerising stage presence and the stoicism of a Celtic warrior. Their singular approach results in a flourishing, disjointed, and orgasmic blend of folk, rock, and performance art. 
Their debut album The New Eve is Rising feels like a setting in stone of who they are, a real manifesto of their sound and ethos. Their visuals offer another key to their world. Edwardian ruffs, kilts, trench coats, and hag stones exist in harmony-crafting a unique folk-chic aesthetic. Imagine a forest fairy in New York circa 1968, and you’re nearly there.
Having teased a handful of songs from their upcoming debut, released today on August 1st, one thing is clear: they’re here to rewrite history, or at least get us thinking differently about it. The opening track, The New Eve, feels like a direct translation of their ethos as a band. Reinventing the biblical Eve as a figure who “eats what she wants to eat every fruit from every tree she devours guiltlessly,” the track unfolds as a powerful spoken word declaration, part beat poem, delivered by Winder-Lind. It’s powered by a guttural drumbeat and swelling, dramatic strings that build to a stirring climax.
Another early release from the album, Cow Song, is a liberating declaration of independence. It channels the essence of a traditional folk song through layered harmonies and rhythmic patterns, while remaining firmly rooted in their distinct DIY spirit. Interspersed with howling and screaming, it’s a wild, life-affirming ode to the power of nature. The quartet capture something wholly unique — a poetic synergy of rage and euphoria. Or, as they put it with disarming honesty: “Our sound is just us. We hone nothing.”
The album, out today, creates its own world with vivid storytelling and rich vocals. What would you say are the key themes running through the record? And what was the process like when it came to writing, recording, and weaving everything together into one project?
The key theme is actually just us being ourselves, being a team against all odds. Navigating life whilst writing music about things we are interested in over several years. You can learn a lot about the four of us by listening to this album.
As The New Eves, how does making song typically evolve? What's your collaborative process like?
We just jam. Something evolves from it. We get excited. We all write our own parts mainly but sometimes we think of things for each other. It is all very equal.
Your live performances are notably eruptive and hypnotic; how do you find transferring this energy you cultivate on stage to the studio?
Thank you. It actually worked really well to transfer the live performance to the record. We recorded most of it live and kept the excitement of the songs. We worked with such great people (Jack Ogborne and Joe Jones) and the process was mostly analogue and therefore felt very real. Like if we wanted reverb on something they sent it into the reverb chamber which was like this beautiful little chapel at the other end of the farm.
The album’s opening track, The New Eve, rewrites the original sin, describing a New Eve who “eats what she wants to eat, every fruit from every tree.” If you could each devour one fruit for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Nina: Ingrid Marie apples.
Ella: Raspberries.
Violet: Strawberries.
Kate: Clementines.
As a band with such a unique sound you’ve created an unmistakable identity through your music and visuals. What first brought you together and how have you honed your sound?
We were brought together by music. We met at gigs and through mutual friends. All of our friends are musicians and creatives. Our freaks. Our sound is just us. We hone nothing.
The album blends folk with a punk edge, sprinkled with touches of pop. What were some of your sonic influences while writing it?
Nina: Velvet Underground, Bulgarian State Television Female Choir, The Ramones, cow and goat calling from rural Sweden, The Shangri-Las, Nico, David Byrne.
Ella: Velvet Underground, Arthur Russell, Huun-Huur-Tu, Hildegard Von Bingen, Joanna Newsom, The Ethiopiques, John Lennon, Robbie Basho, The Latvian Radio Choir, Talking Heads.
Violet: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Radiohead, The Runaways, Vashti Bunyan, Prokofiev, Nirvana.
Kate: Talking Heads, The Doors, David Bowie, Air, Donna Summer, Gospel Funk Music.
Highwayman references Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman, and even The New Eves as a name echoes Angela Carter’s novel The Passion of New Eve. How important are literary influences for you as a band? Which poems or books were important in the genesis of the album?
The Passion of The New Eve did lead us to the name. The album has a lot of literary influences, The Waste Land by T.S Elliot, Thunder, Perfect Mind from the Nag Hammadi Scriptures, Underland by Robert Macfarlane. The love letters of Héloïse and Abelard. The Moomins. The books of Elaine Pagels. Just Kids by Patti Smith. The Beatles by Hunter Davies. Lord of the Rings.
What are your favourite books of all time?
Nina: The Moomins.
Ella: The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula Le Guin.
Violet: Anything by Colette. And Violette Leduc. No one knows about her. Look her up.
Anything about being a teenage girl in America in the middle of nowhere. Like stuff about the Manson family, there’s one called The Girls by Emma Cline that is great. And White Oleander by Janet Fitch. And The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter. Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Creepy ghost things.
Kate: I’m not good at picking all time favourites and I’m bad at making decisions but The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe and Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy have both had quite an influence on me.  
You're based in Brighton, and references to pastoral landscapes are heavy on the album, with Cow Song epitomising a yearning to return to nature, and samples sounds from nature, there any pivotal environments in the creation of the record, and where would be the optimum environment to listen to it?
Depends on who you are but we would recommend springtime in the mountains, or at the foot of an active volcano, but also in your bedroom and on the streets. Play it loud!
They say cows love listening to music, if you were to serenade a herd of cows, which four songs would you choose, and why?
Fäbodvisa Från Älvdalen - Carl Gustaf Farje
Visions of the Country (the full album!) - Robbie Basho
Unknown Happiness - Maher Shalal Hash Baz
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars
As a band you’ve crafted an idiosyncratic world, not only sonically but also in your visual identity, embracing everything from folk lore to film and TV, how would you describe the visual aspects of the band?
Raincoats, nightdresses, ribbons, socks, black boots, jackets, Moomin fur, wellies, long johns, the colour of pomegranates, The Beatles. Hiking boots. We don’t have matching suits yet but we live in hope that one day we will. Someone get us a canoe.
And finally, if each of you were a mythical creature, which one would best capture your essence and why?
Ella: A horse with wings and a bird head.
Violet: A unicorn because I’m so fucking whimsical.
Nina: Some kind of seal girl I think. In the Baltic sea.
Kate: A goblin.