Polly’s musical inspiration now reborn on Sapling be

‘WHEN I got pregnant with my son about eight years ago, I just couldn’t write, almost immediately. I had all this amazing inspiration coming from this life growing inside me that I wanted to write about, and I wanted to express the feelings that I was having – my feelings of uncertainty, my feelings of hope and love and I just couldn’t remember how to do it. I just couldn’t get the words out.’ 

These are the words of Schull singer and songwriter Polly Barrett, about her recent single ‘Sapling be’, the title track from her new album of the same name, which will be released on October 6th. Many local artists were involved with the production, including musicians Frank Wieler, Lea Miklody and Darren McCarthy. 

The title Sapling be draws inspiration from both her son Arthur and her love of nature, while exploring her journey through motherhood. 

‘I always had this notion of the sapling analogy, of sort of likening your child or your baby, to a baby tree and sort of using that to describe that journey,’ she said. ‘The song is like a wish for my son that he grows strong and tall like a great oak tree, with his roots firmly in the ground. That he never forgets his connection to nature.’

It took some time, however, for the track to come together, as Polly struggled with a frustrating bout of writer’s block. 

She was reminded of the sapling analogy once again though, when Arthur was just two. The young child loved to play with instruments around the house and dream up his own songs.  

‘I would literally sit him on the double bed in my room with the banjo in front of him and he would just strum it and sing kind of meaningless, random sounds. 

‘At the end of it I would say to him, “what was that one called?”, and he would just come out with these really funny song titles that had nothing to do with what he was just doing.’ 

One time she asked him the name of his latest song and he said ‘Sapling be, of course’.

 ‘It was so funny because of the whole idea I had for a sapling,’ she said. 

Although Polly had already overcome writer’s block, she still struggled to commit the right words to paper. That was until she attended a sensory forest bathing course in Glengarriff Woods earlier this year. 

‘Of course, in the forest we were all surrounded by trees and all these ideas of the sapling came up again. I had this really lovely kind of release during that course where I really felt the creative. I had already started writing again and the block was gone, but I felt a much deeper connection with nature, and I really wanted to write about that,’ she said.

As is the case for many artists who grew up in West Cork, Polly said she feels drawn to the nature around her.  

Born in Kinsale, she also spent some of her formative years in Crosshaven and Belgooly, but has since lived in London, Belfast and Cork City.  But she feels more connected now since her return to West Cork in 2014. 

She said city life presented great opportunities for gigs and networking, but she never felt happy, free or at home there. 

‘I wasn’t close enough to a wild kind of nature. It’s not the same going to a park or, I just didn’t get the same feeling. I always really wanted to be somewhere that felt wild and more ancient.’ 

And she feels the move has greatly benefited her mental health as well. ‘I feel so much more balanced and centred and just content when I’m in the countryside, I absolutely love it. We haven’t completely mastered or dominated nature here yet. It’s still very strong. It’s still very present.’

She loves walking out her door and instantly being confronted with birdsong and trees, and the sound of the waves in the distance. ‘It’s just all a really nice reminder that we’re kind of here on planet earth and that we are a part of it,’ she explained. 

Despite her already successful albums Mr Bookshop and Probably Me, Polly remains humble about her achievements. 

She is thankful for the support her work has received from radio personalities such as RTE Radio 1’s Louise Duffy and Newstalk’s Sean Moncrieff.  And she is also grateful to be a recipient of the basic income for the Arts pilot scheme grant, which has given her the confidence to work solely on her music career. 

‘I feel I have a bit of a time limit as well because once the three years is up, I’m not going to have that cushion. But, if I have to just pack it in, and go back to a day job that’s fine too. I’ll be very grateful for having had those three
years.’