Anglo-Welsh proggers Also Eden made the decision to rip up the music industry rule book. Instead of bringing out a double album of new music, they’re releasing three interlinking EPs, each supported by a run of live shows. Prog caught up with co-founders Huw Lloyd-Jones and Simon Rogers to find out how it’s going so far.
Prog fans are traditionally creatures of habit, buying into the familiar cycle of an album release followed by a tour. When a someone dares to break that pattern, it’s going to be a gamble.
“The cycle of album-tour-album-tour is dying, if not dead already,” says Huw Lloyd- Jones, Also Eden’s co-founder, vocalist and lyricist. “It’s long been dead at our end of the scale. These days, people are giving away their music – and nobody is going to book us for a 40-date trip around Europe.”
Rather than soldier on with a release model that no longer serves them, the band have struck out on a fresh path. With enough new music to fill a double album, they’ve instead chosen to showcase it on a trilogy of interconnected EPs, each coming out before a short run of live dates throughout 2026.
They braced themselves for some serious pushback when they announced their plan – but so far, to their surprise, there have been few dissenting voices. “The only one came from an American fan asking why we didn’t just put it all on one album,” Lloyd-Jones says. “That’s a legitimate question, not a negative view. We’ve had nothing but positive comments on social media and in private messages.
“With everyone being skint at the moment, it’s much easier to ask people to spend £6 on 25 minutes of new music. Not being a band like Yes, we could never sell an album for £20: but with these three EPs, we believe we’ve shattered the mould. Of course, we could be shooting ourselves in the foot – at the end of the year people might be saying, ‘Oh God, not them again!’”
The first EP, Holy Books And Credit Cards 1: Promises, marks the band’s first new music since 2013’s [Redacted] – and the first release to feature Lloyd-Jones since 2008’s It’s Kind Of You To Ask. He’s joined by fellow founders Simon Rogers (guitars) and Ian Hodson (keyboards), with Graham Lane (bass) and Guy Monk on drums and percussion.
Musically, it’s a truly magnificent leap in momentum for the band. The three tracks – Promises, A Painter’s Hands and Scented Candle Corridors – along with a bonus, stripped-down version of the opening number, ignite with crackling energy, emotional candour and burning intensity. That allows space for the intricate pastoral touches and heavier riffage that have long defined their sound. Their trademark longform structures showcase Lloyd-Jones’s distinctive, rich, resonant voice, while Rogers’ expansive sonic palette and Hodson’s airy, atmospheric keys effortlessly flow around it.
“There’s nearly half an hour of new material on this EP,” says Rogers. “Putting an hour’s worth of music out in one chunk is hard; this way we can develop it as we go along and think it all through a bit more. For me, it’s a good way of working because we can focus on smaller sections at a time, rather than getting distracted when there’s so much material. It gives you a better chance of getting the best result.”
The three-part structure also lets the musical ideas evolve across releases.“The songs on the EPs are connected,” Rogers says. “Where there are songs on the first release that have a second part, we’ll revisit them on one of the other two. It keeps the continuity going, and it means we always have something new to present to people. It also gives us lots of reasons to go out and gig!”
Many of the musical themes were first sketched out by Rogers during the pandemic and later expanded with Lloyd-Jones A Painter’s Hands and Scented Candle Corridor were road-tested during live dates last year, and both earned positive reactions.
Unusually for Also Eden, A Painter’s Hands began with a lyric rather than a melody. It was inspired by Lloyd-Jones – one of the organisers of the Summer’s End and Winter’s End Festivals – while he was watching his partner Miriam paint a coastal scene during a beach trip to West Wales.
“It really strikes home with the audience,” he says. “We played it for the first time at Summer’s End last year, and a lady who runs an art class asked me for the lyrics. And when we played with RPWL in London, people wanted to know which album it was on.”
Rogers was immediately drawn to the poem-like lyric. “I picked up a guitar and played some nice chords, which I developed after Huw gave me the words. I wanted it to sound pastoral – to reflect the outdoors, the painting, the scenery – so I deliberately kept it light.”
Promises went through some changes, including having its name shortened. “We chose it because I realised there were promises in all three songs,” Lloyd-Jones says. “It’s an upbeat, happy number and it’s a love song. It’s about being in love with life and your partner, embracing everything you have.”
The EP model takes away the rollercoaster effect you would get in the traditional model. This new cycle can keep us excited and, as a result, we will generate better music
Simon Rogers
When Prog speaks to the band, the follow-up EP is still taking shape. “The songs on it couldn’t be more diverse,” Lloyd-Jones notes. “There’s a jolly, almost jaunty number, together with one of the darkest things we’ve ever written, and an acoustic piece that sounds very sweet but has a very barbed lyric.”
Rogers adds: “There are things I’ll be doing on the second EP that I’ve never done before: using different effects, which keeps us all interested. The dark song, which we’ve provisionally called Nightmare, is a bit of a nightmare to record! The EP model takes away the rollercoaster effect you would get in the traditional model. This new cycle can keep us excited and, as a result, we will generate better music. So hopefully we’ll have more chance of winning or retaining fans.”
The overarching theme of Holy Books And Credit Cards comes from a song on the second EP. It’s a reflection on a world where abuse of money and religious systems run side by side, deepening divides between rich and poor. “It’s a humanity thing; a plea for humanitarianism,” Lloyd-Jones explains.
It’s clear that after nearly three decades in various incarnations, Also Eden have tapped into a fresh seam of creativity, helped in no small part by relative newcomer, drummer Guy Monk, whose youthful drive keeps their engine running in more ways than one.
Lloyd-Jones says with a laugh: “He’s the same age as my eldest son and great fun to have around – though he does insist on telling everyone he’s our carer!”
Holy Book And Credit Cards 1: Promises is on sale now.
