BONUS: The silly mystery of Eaves Wilder

A great new band from... the well-known brand that brought you Caitlin Moran and Pete Paphides

I like Eaves Wilder. She’s a new artist with a good track — a 90s, My Blooy Valentine/Mazzy Star-ish delight — that’s getting some airplay.

If I hadn’t have a tip-off on Twitter, I would never have realised that this buzzy new artist — played on Radio 1 and by Lauren Laverne on 6Music — is the daughter of The Times columnist, author, and screenwriter of the new film How to Build a Girl, Caitlin Moran and former chief rock critic of The Times and author of a recent brilliant autobiography Broken Greek.

Does it matter that the young woman who is going by the nom de musique Eaves Wilder is one of the Moran/Paphides dynasty? Not really, in so far as she is actually quite good. But the problem is that the PR campaign behind Eaves Wilder is actively trying to hide that her parents are well-known. It’s as if Lily Allen was pretending that Keith Allen wasn’t her dad. It doesn’t work. It makes people suspicious of nepotism.

Read last week’s newsletter edition on nepotism in the media.

Eaves Wilder @eaveswilder

@laurenlaverne @BBC6Music @RhiannaDhillon @bellaunion @drab_city U have been waking me up every morning in lockdown and it has been lovely ❤️ Im going to chazza shopping today and v excited. Do u think that you could okay Liz Lawrences new single California screaming? Sending lots of love xx

Lauren Laverne @laurenlaverne

@eavie_rose @BBC6Music @RhiannaDhillon @bellaunion @drab_city Hello lovely one! I played LL the other day so it may be too close... She's so brill tho. Hope you get some gems and have a lovely day! Xx

Certainly the fact that Lauren Laverne does not seem to have disclosed that when she played Eaves Wilder on her radio show she was playing the daughter of a close personal friend would be, in my opinion, a huge conflict of interest. She could have short circuited any criticism by simply declaring the fact that she knows and likes Eaves Wilder’s mother.

In the NME article, and in the press campaign executed by her PR firm, there is absolutely no mention that the preternaturally talented Eaves comes from a very privileged position. It does matter that her mother is the most famous columnist in the country and that her father is a hugely respected rock critic. Of course, she has made the music herself and she deserves to be able to promote that music, but pretending that she has emerged from nowhere is an act of disrespect to potential listeners.

Look how this music blog introduces her…

Breaking More Waves @BMWavesBlog

ICYMI: What were you doing when you were 16 years old? Eaves Wilder has already had a single played on Radio 1 and 6 Music. If you like bands like Ride, Curve and Lush you might like it: breakingmorewaves.blogspot.com/2020/07/introd…

… they are framing it as if this 16-year-old has emerged from nowhere when, like Billie Eilish, Eaves Wilder has had a lot of advantages the average 16-year-old would not have. I hope Eaves Wilder succeeds — listen to her single now and see if you like it — but I really thing she should be honest about where she comes from and who she comes from. Lying to listeners never works out well.

Read the previous newsletter epsiode on the Caitlin Moran myth.