Eden Shireen and Braiden Wood took over the stage at SM City Marikina on May 15 and 16, respectively. The two remarkable songwriters/musicians hailing from Florida played their own acoustic sets in the middle of the mall, delighting their fans and creating new ones among the curious spectators around the venue.

The two-day event also gave way to our local talents including Madel, Watch Your Step, I Am Madness and Traffic Jam. Each of them played a interesting mixture of covers and original songs, attracting the attention of the crowd. Prior to their concert, the two artists also held meet and greet sessions inside the mall.

When it was Eden Shireen’s turn to play, she faced the stage by herself with a guitar on hand. The 19-year old singer/songwriter played her original songs “Invisible to You”, “Tangled Heartstrings” and “Fraction of Time” in between covers such as “Stay Stay Stay” by Taylor Swift, “Little Talk” by Of Monsters and Men, “That Year” by Brandi Carlile and “Chocolate” by The 1975. Her version of the covers is pleasing to the ears as she gave it her own folk rendition. One way to describe Eden is to say that she’s such a sweetheart. On top of the fact that she’s very pretty in person, her voice has a certain charm that appeals to everyone. She also enjoyed telling small stories behind her songs which gave her music more depth.

The next day, Braiden Wood took hold of the stage. The 21-year-old musician was a member of Before You Exit (which played in Manila during Circuit Fest in 2013) until he decided to go solo last year. He dished out his original compositions such as “Fly”, “Lead Me Home”, “The Sky Is the Limit” and “Freeze Time”, “Superman” and “Architecture 101”. He also played covers of Echosmith’s “Cool Kids”/Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks”, Imagine Dragons’ “It’s Time: and Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars”. Braiden has garnered quite a following here. There were quite a number of people in the audience who were familiar with his songs. Moreover, he has the innate charisma to draw a crowd due to his pleasantly candid attitude. His take on pop/rock music is remarkable, too. His songs are undeniably catchy.

Braiden Wood and Eden Shireen both have great potential as musicians. They have a way of captivating an audience. Also, it must have taken a lot of courage to play for a crowd in a faraway country, but they succeeded in getting their music heard. As for now, there’s still a lot of space for development, but definitely they’re in a good place. We can only hope to hear more of their music from this point forward.

by Sandra Mae Laureano

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