Former The Eden House vocalist, Louise Patricia Crane confronts her inner demons on her second solo album. Set against a backdrop of Irish folk and mythology, Netherworld finds the Northern Irish singer-songwriter embarking on a healing journey with a cast that includes Jakko Jakszyk and Ian Anderson. Prog caught up with her to find out more.

Words: Rich Wilson

Louise Patricia Crane has been following her emotions down the rabbit hole.

Images: Carrie Davenport

There’s a touch of the throwback about Louise Patricia Crane. Such a term is frequently used as a snide weapon of criticism, but Crane is a cerebral retreat to an era of Dylans and Mitchells where musicians readily purged personal trauma with soulful music to match. She possesses an honest fragility that provokes thought, without ever venturing into the mawkish world of oversharing or mere attentionseeking, in the current era of talentcompromised self-promoters.

Crane’s work with dark proggers The Eden House led to her recording a solo album, 2020’s The Deep Blue, which was unanimously lauded for its ambition. Given such palpable talent, it comes as quite a surprise to learn of her peculiar lack of self-confidence.

Netherworld is out on June 21.

“I felt like I had things that I wanted to say and I had musical interests and influences that were never part of what I had done before,” she says. “I really strongly felt that I had something to say in my own voice. I think that with each different thing that I did, each band, each time that I wrote a song there was always a little increase of self-belief there and self-esteem. To be asked to do an audition for The Eden House, and to then get a place within that band was quite a leap forward in terms of self-confidence. That was the moment when I thought maybe I could do this.