“The music feels imbued with stillness even as the arrangements remain in constant motion, dark and whimsical in equal shades. Birds sing, strings ripple like lyrical incantations, and these songs balance gentleness with ferocity. Incredible.”

— Foxy Digitalis

sibyl

Blending classical and folk influences, the duo Sibyl (Chloe and Lily Holgate) create an evocative sound world using two voices and minimal instrumentation. The result is music that feels both ancient and contemporary, intimate and expansive. Taking its name from the prophetic women of ancient Greece who foretold the future through poetry and song, Sibyl is an exploration of voice, story, and the liminal space between the earthly and the divine. Their sound is full spectrum female folk: two voices creating a complete sonic universe, both comforting and startling – a sound bath with flashes of teeth.

Sibyl is an album born of stillness, sisterhood, and storytelling. At the heart of the album is the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay. The Holgates collaboratively compose new music for these poets’ words, reanimating decades-long artistic conversations between words and sounds. Sibyl honors the poets’ lyric intensity while letting melody carry their meaning forward, and explores the tensions in their work: sweetness and ache, restraint and wildness.

Recorded at Tiny Panther Recordings with engineer Charles Mueller, the album’s 8 tracks feature six original compositions and two new arrangements of beloved folk songs – “Down in the Willow Garden” and “I’ll Fly Away.”

Released on CD and digital, February 27th, 2026

credits

Recorded at Tiny Panther Recording in Brooklyn, NY
Recording Engineer and Producer Charles Mueller
Assistant Engineer Olive Forgash
Mixed by Charles Mueller
Mastered by Mike Tierney
Portraits of Sibyl by Gregory Wikstrom
Booklet design by Chloe and Lily Holgate, featuring photographs by Alfred Stieglitz

Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, & 7 : composed by Chloe and Lily Holgate
Track 6 : composed by Chloe Holgate
Track 2 : Down in the Willow Garden, traditional, arranged by Chloe and Lily Holgate
Track 8 : I’ll Fly Away by Albert E. Brumley, arranged by Chloe Holgate
Texts by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1, 7)
Emily Dickinson (3, 5, 6)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (4)
Hermit Thrush (6) field recording by Nick Virzi