Whilst growing up in a small town within the Saarland state in Germany, the home setting of future musician All Things Eve didn’t necessarily foretell her future occupation. “I wouldn’t say that I grew up in a very musical family,” Eve tells Post-Burnout. “Now, we did grow up listening to a lot of music around my mum. My mum is also a singer, but that is kind of the only bridge that I had there because, my dad, there’s no music in that man! [Laughs]

“I think what sparked it for me was my mum listening to… – which is very weird because, if you’ve listened to my music, it’s not close, at all – …my mum listened to a lot of Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, like, love ballads. I feel like that’s where I get the heartbreak songs from! [Laughs] […] I think that’s what started me singing.”

At fifteen, Eve began performing covers in wedding bands and enjoyed success until the COVID-19 lockdowns hit. “Everybody was really scared, obviously,” Eve remembers of that time. “If you continued to watch the news, everyone was like, ‘Ah! What’s going on?’ I was working in the pandemic because my degree is in speech and language therapy, so I used to work in a hospital, and we were shocked in the hospital because we were like, ‘Yeah, this is going to be over in two weeks. Two weeks, and then we’re out of here.’”

As a federalist country, Germany initially put the responsibility of lockdown measures onto the varying state governments to deal with within their municipalities. When we asked Eve how tight requirements were where she lived, she responded, “They were pretty strict. I think at the peak of COVID, we could only leave the house, I think it was, 500 meters. Like, in the circular of the house. We had a garden, which was good. I think if I would have lived in Dublin by then [Laughs], all crowded, I would’ve gone crazy!”

The benefit of the isolation was that it gave Eve time to consider what she wanted to be. She decided that pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter was what she wanted to commit to when the world opened up. Whilst trapped at home, Eve began her solo project, All Things Eve, which was an idiosyncratic mistranslation of the Bette Davis film All About Eve.

“I just translated it weirdly from German,” laughs Eve. “I think the German [title] is Alles über Eva, which would be All About Eve, but I just think when I was making up that name, All Things Eve was there before I released music. So, I think I thought about it in lockdown. So, probably at the start of 2020, is when I thought about that name and created the Instagram [handle].

“I don’t really know why I translated it wrong; it’s just a mistake. It’s still in the right grammar, I think, but it just ended up being a mistake that also was lucky, because there is a band that is called All About Eve. I don’t know if they’re very known here. I didn’t know them before I looked them up, but their streaming numbers are high. [Laughs]”

An early decision by Eve was to craft her originals in English. When asked why she chose this over her native German, Eve responded, “I think I’ve always just listened to English music…English-speaking music; not just English music. [Laughs] I think I just felt more drawn to it because that’s what I grew up to. But, also, I have tried writing in German, simply because that’s what labels in Germany want – the major labels want German speakers – but it is a certain thing that I can hide behind. I love Irish and English poetry. I love English poetry and literature. So, there’s a lot of resources that I have that, most likely, I don’t even really have in German. I have access to them but I don’t consume them as much as I do poetry from here, or America, or England.”

In 2020, All Things Eve released her first track, “Lost in Space.” “That was very early days songwriter,” says Eve when reflecting on it now. Fittingly, “Lost in Space” is now a lost track, as, feeling that she no longer could relate to it, Eve decided to take the song down from streaming services. “I think I’ve grown as a songwriter, but, still, what I was able to do back then, with the capacities I had, I’m still proud of that,” says Eve. “It’s a nice little song. It’s nothing bad. It’s just that I think I’ve grown.”

Once lockdowns ceased, Eve played a few gigs around her town, but most opportunities there were either solely for cover gigs or open mic nights with limited time restraints. Eve then released her follow-up single, “can you?”, in June 2021, which can be marked as the first true introduction to the project. But there was still a sense of limited possibilities at home.

In 2019, Eve took a trip to Ireland and had a great experience. In October 2022, she moved to Dublin as an au pair. On her off-time, Eve continued her passion. “The music scene in Dublin is fantastic,” she says. “There are so many opportunities, so many genres around here. I think I started playing live here while busking. There was a couple of open mics I did before that, but even to have that, to try out what works, what doesn’t work.

“Now, busking is kind of a cover gig, as well, so it can be heartbreaking because people are not there for you! [Laughs] They will walk past! There was one lady, and I was playing an original song, and she did this: [Mimes taking a right-sided earphone out] Listened to me, plucked it back in, and walked past! [Laughs] So, it can be difficult!”

In the just-shy-of-two years since Eve’s been here, a lot has changed and it seems like her busking days are over, at least for now. “I’ve moved to Kildare, now, so bringing all of my gear in every weekend while having a full-time job, and another side hustle, and the music, is just a bit much,” she says. “Now, I’m just concentrating on releasing music and playing original gigs.”

Still, Eve credits her busking days for helping her to discover her unique stage presence and especially for teaching her how to deal with rowdy attendees at shows, which was a bit of a culture shock that she had to acclimatise to. “I will say, when I came here, I was used to German, attentive crowds,” she says. “And when I came here [Laughs], everybody at the gig was yapping. Everybody.

“And, at one gig – I think I was playing in The Grand Social – and it was kind of like a stripped-back, acoustic thing with a lot of artists, besides me. I think it was sometime in the middle, it was my turn, and I got on stage, and everybody was yapping through the artists, and, because it was a stripped-back gig, there was only guitars or keyboards, you know? So, it was pretty quiet.

“But everyone was yapping through it, and I got on stage, and I was like, ‘Everybody, if you want to have a drink and yap, go out to the smoking area, and come back once you’re yapped out. I feel like I was so angry at everybody, not even really for me, but for the acts before me who had to sit through that. It’s not a fucking wedding, where [Laughs] you can sit and somebody’s playing a piano. It’s a gig. You paid money to see live music.

“After that, I was approached at another gig by a girl and she was like, ‘You were the girl who shushed the people up at The Grand Social!’ […] See, this is not what I want to be known for, you know?! If she had been like, ‘You were the girl who played in The Grand Social! I really loved that song, and you shushed the people up!’ [Laughs]”

Whilst working hard and making a name for herself within the Irish music scene, All Things Eve has had a three-year gap between releases. Tomorrow, Eve’s new single, “June Moon,” will be the first song released during her time in Ireland. “I was trying to find my style, and I was also very hesitant to release because I was afraid that that style would change too many times,” explains Eve of this sabbatical.

“Because there was a time between ‘can you?’ and this single where I would write indie music, like, indie electrical guitar music. And then there was another time where I thought, ‘Maybe it’s country?’ And, then, right now, it’s kind of folky-ish, you know? I think, looking back, I would probably advise myself to not be as precious about releasing music because, spiralling back to ‘Lost in Space’ and then ‘can you?’, I think I was scared that that would happen again, that I would end up hating everything that was out there.

“I’m kind of a flimsy person like that. I’m very self-cautious about my own music. Like, I’m a perfectionist, and I’ve always been. I just wanted to give myself time to craft my music, and to be secure with it, and to let it mature. I think I just needed that for myself. Like, I said, looking back, I’d probably say, ‘Eve, it’s not that deep.’ [Laughs] ‘If you want to make music, make music.’

“But, I think, for me, I just needed a bit of time to settle on what I actually wanted to do and if I wanted to pursue music. There was a time where I was like, ‘I’m just going to work in a normal job. Maybe do the odd gig,’ because I kind of lost hope. But I think I just needed some time.”

Describing “June Moon,” Eve says, “When I wrote this song, I was going through a breakup, like we all do, and I came to the stage of acceptance. In that stage, there are still some days where you will be sad about losing a person, but you kind of come to the conclusion that it was for the best. There’s this feeling of peace about the whole thing. Still being sad, and that’s allowed, but a general view and a distant view of the relationship by then. I think it was about three months after the relationship when I had a clear view on it, and I was like, ‘I’m actually OK with this.’ There was still some shit happening between the two of us, but I’m actually OK with it, now.”

Now with a clearer sense of direction and want, Eve promises that there won’t be such a long period between releases, going forward.  “I’m actually recording the single after that, right now, so it’s in the works,” Eve says. “I have so many songs that I have in my voice notes and on my desk, so I’m ready to record them and release them. So, soon after ‘June Moon,’ there should be [more]. Maybe even this year or the start of next year. Maybe even a Christmas album? Who knows? [Laughs]”

All Things Eve’s latest single, “June Moon,” will be available on all streaming platforms from tomorrow. Eve will play at Upstairs at Whelan’s tonight, with And He, The Fool and Calum Agnew. Tickets for that show can be purchased here. She will also play at the Ruby Sessions, next Tuesday, the 24^th. Tickets for that show will go on sale this Sunday, the 22^nd, and can be purchased here when available. Keep up with All Things Eve here.

Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… at 21:00 (IST) tonight to hear this interview in full, where we go into further depth about everything discussed as well as busking stories, cultural shocks from moving from Germany to Ireland, expanding All Things Eve into a band and how that changes Eve’s dynamics as a singer-songwriter, and much more. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.