Debut Album from Public Song Project Winners Sibyl

Summary

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Podcast Summary: All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Debut Album from Public Song Project Winners Sibyl
Date: March 11, 2026
Guest(s): Chloe and Lily Holgate (Sibyl)

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Episode Overview

This episode of All Of It with Alison Stewart features an in-depth conversation with Chloe and Lily Holgate, the sister duo known as Sybil, winners of the WNYC Public Song Project’s inaugural year. With their self-titled debut album just released, Sybil performs live in-studio and discusses their unique approach: setting the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay to music. The episode delves into their artistic process, sibling dynamics, personal connections to literature and mental health, and their journey as New York musicians.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sybil’s Origins and Collaboration

• Musical Upbringing (07:07):
  • Both sisters grew up making music and dancing together, but pursued classical training on parallel tracks—Chloe in voice, Lily in violin.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic offered them the “bubble” and time to finally collaborate:

    "It took the pandemic for us to say, like, wait, we could do this together..."
    —Chloe Holgate [07:29]

2. The Sibling “Blood Harmony”

• Concept and Experience (07:49):
  • Alison brings up the notion of “blood harmony”—a unique resonance when siblings sing together.
  • Chloe: “I do [believe in blood harmony].”
  • Lily describes it as a mental connection:

    "I'm listening to Lily's voice, I think she's listening to mine, and we kind of lose ourselves in the process and become kind of something bigger."
    —Lily Holgate [08:08-08:14]

  • Sometimes their voices blend so seamlessly, it’s hard for even them to distinguish who’s singing which part.

3. Training and Influence of the Special Music School (08:59–10:20)

• Chloe focused on classical piano and choir:

  "My happy place was always singing."

• Lily loved singing too, but specialized in chamber music, which translates into their duo’s intimate arrangements.

4. The Album’s Concept: Setting Poetry to Music

• Why Dickinson and Millay? (10:38):

  • The sisters felt sheepish about writing lyrics and found inspiration in classic poetry.

    "We wanted to sort of highlight the works of these two amazing women..."
    —Chloe Holgate [10:52]

  • They found that Dickinson’s and Millay’s poetry “naturally lends itself to music.”

• Different Poets, Different Musicality (11:22):

  • Millay’s structured verses fit “song form,” while Dickinson’s unpredictable forms lead to unconventional, exploratory compositions.

5. The Creative Process (15:45–16:44)

• The poetry always leads the music, not the other way around.
• Writing music for two sopranos presents challenges; part-swapping and leaning into each sister’s strengths is a key part of their arranging process:

  "We've done a lot of part swapping where all of us just swap parts just because today this isn't feeling so easy for me. You do it."
  —Lily Holgate [17:29]

6. Beyond Dickinson and Millay: Including Folk Tradition

• The album includes traditional folk songs (“I'll Fly Away,” and “Down in the Willow Garden,” a murder ballad).
• These connect thematically with the poets’ explorations of mental health and the female experience:

  "Something about the traditional songs that we arranged weirdly complements those texts...Like, there's kind of a mashup of exploring female voices."
  —Chloe Holgate [18:13]

• Performing a murder ballad as women adds poignancy and gives “voice to the voiceless.”

7. Advice for the Public Song Project (19:37)

• Chloe: “Does it tell a story and is it a story that speaks to you?”
• Lily: “There’s so many public domain things you could choose that I would be overwhelmed. So you really have to choose what speaks to you and not what is…what’s exciting to you?”

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Notable Performances & Quotes

Performance 1: “Witch Wife” (Millay)

• Timestamp: [04:18–06:49]
• A haunting, evocative arrangement described by Chloe as “spooky, witchy.”

Performance 2: “I Felt a Cleaving in My Mind” (Dickinson)

• Timestamp: [12:10–15:45]
• Explores mental fragmentation and is driven entirely by the poem’s rhythm and imagery.

Performance 3: “Afternoon on a Hill” (Millay)

• Timestamp: [20:51–23:25]
• The song that won them the Public Song Project. Gentle, optimistic, and reflective of nature’s balm.

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Memorable Quotes

• On artistic collaboration:

  "Because we were in each other's bubble, it just felt like the universe finally provided us the time to actually invest in a collaboration."
  —Chloe Holgate [07:32]

• On artistic inspiration:

  "What just gives you that kind of spark of inspiration? ...That for me often drives what we do, is what is the story behind this?"
  —Chloe Holgate [19:37]

• On finding your material:

  "You really have to choose what speaks to you and not what is…like, what's the most obscure thing that no one else would do?...What's exciting to you?"
  —Lily Holgate [20:13]

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Timestamps & Structure

• [01:28] – Alison Stewart introduces Sybil and their background
• [04:18–06:49] – Performance: “Witch Wife”
• [06:49–10:20] – Early collaboration, musical training, sibling dynamic
• [10:38–12:10] – Inspiration for using poetry, album concept
• [12:10–15:45] – Performance: “I Felt a Cleaving in My Mind”
• [15:45–18:56] – Songwriting approach, arranging for two sopranos
• [18:13–19:37] – On folk songs, mental health themes
• [19:37–20:37] – Advice for song project participants
• [20:51–23:25] – Performance: “Afternoon on a Hill”

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Tone

Warm, reflective, and intimate—Sybil’s dynamic is affectionate, thoughtful, and driven by a quiet passion for poetry, musical craft, and giving voice to both traditional and overlooked stories.

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For Listeners

This episode is a compelling showcase for how classic poetry and folk tradition find new life in contemporary music. Sybil’s thoughtful discussion offers inspiration and practical advice for artists looking to engage with public domain material, while their performances highlight the power and beauty of sibling harmony. If you appreciate musical innovation rooted in literary heritage and familial connection, this episode will resonate deeply.

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Transcript

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[Chloe Holgate]

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart. In just a minute we'll hear live music in studio from the folk duo Cybil. But first I wanted to give you a heads up about another performance. Our next Broadway on the Radio event is happening in just over a week on Thursday, March 19th at noon. It features the cast of a star studded Broadway revival about a Cold War love triangle. It's Chess the Musical. The show's three stars, Aaron Tveit, Nicholas Christopher and Lea Michele will all be here at the WNYC Green Space performing live. We'll also have the show's director, Michael Mayer and book writer Danny Strong here as well. Go to wnyc.org chess to get more info and to buy your tickets. And if you can't make it to this event in person, don't worry. You can also tune in for free live on the radio or via our livestream on YouTube. Again, that's WNYC. Now let's get this show started with Sybil. WNYC'S Public Song Project is back. This year we invite you to send in a song based on something in the public domain. This year we're teaming up with the Internet Archive to share your songs with millions of people who visit their playlists every day. You can find out more about it by going to wnyc.org publicsongproject and if you need some inspiration for submitting, you might be able to find some from my next guests who were the winners of the project in its very first year and now they are out with their debut album. Chloe and Lily Holgate are two New York born and raised sisters who perform as Cybil. Their self titled debut album features poetry of Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay set to original musical arrangement that are built around their voices. And they're here with me in studio to perform some of it now. Chloe and Lily, welcome back.

[Chloe Holgate]

Thank you so much for having us.

[Lily Holgate]

Thrilled to be here.

[Alison Stewart]

What's going to be the first song we hear?

[Chloe Holgate]

This song is called Witch Wife. It's a setting of Edna St. Vincimile's poem, also called Witch Wife and it is a spooky, witchy exploration of a poem that really inspired us. This is Sybil.

[Sybil (Chloe and Lily Holgate singing)]

Ha. She's neither pink nor pear and she will never be all mine. She, she. She learned her hands in a fairy

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tale

[Sybil (Chloe and Lily Holgate singing)]

and her mouth on a valentine. She has more hair than she be in the sun, the sun tis a woe to me and her voice is a string of coloured beads o' er steps leading into the sea. She loves me all that she can and her ways to my ways resign but she was not made for for any man and she never will be all mine.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Chloe and Lily Holgate, AKA Sybil. Their self titled debut album is out now. First of all, congratulations.

[Chloe Holgate]

Thank you.

[Alison Stewart]

On the record. That's so great. Did you always, Chloe, did you always know you would perform together or were you in separate paths and then you suddenly realized, hey, we could do this together.

[Lily Holgate]

I think we always made music together, we always sang together, we always made up dances together. But it did seem like maybe just because of going to college and I pursued classical singing and Lily was doing classical violin, we were kind of doing parallel things. But it's funny that it took the pandemic for us to say, like, wait, we could do this together, like we

[Chloe Holgate]

could at least try.

[Alison Stewart]

Were you open to it?

[Chloe Holgate]

Oh, definitely, Yeah. I think, you know, that was such a strange time for all performers and because we were in each other's bubble it just felt like the universe finally provided us the time to actually invest in a collaboration.

[Alison Stewart]

Chloe, people have talked about the term blood harmony, that siblings sound different when they sing together. First of all, do you believe in blood harmony?

[Chloe Holgate]

I do.

[Lily Holgate]

I mean, I actually haven't heard that term, but yeah, that's very cool. For me, it feels more like a mental connection where it's sort of. I'm listening to Lily's voice, I think she's listening to mine, and we kind of lose ourselves in the process and become kind of something bigger.

[Alison Stewart]

Lily, how do you work that into your music?

[Chloe Holgate]

Into my music? Like outside of or when you're singing

[Alison Stewart]

with your sister, how do you work the blood harmony in your music?

[Chloe Holgate]

Yeah, I mean, it's honestly, it's both like reassuring and really difficult because sometimes the frequencies of our voices, which are different in their own ways, but timbrally very similar, it can be really difficult for me to actually tell who is who, even though I know what note I'm like I'm on. A different note is sometimes just the frequencies get jumbled up. And then when I add my viola or violin into that, it's just aurally very confusing.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, that's so interesting. That's really interesting. You are New York City natives. You should say you went to the special music school on the Upper west side. What kind of music did you study, Chloe?

[Lily Holgate]

I studied classical music. Oh, my gosh. Classical music. But mainly classical piano. And at special music school, all of the children also sing in choir every week. And that was kind of my happy place. Definitely. I mean, piano is exciting. My favorite thing that we did was there was an after school program for improvisation, and I really loved exploring, improvising on the piano. But my happy place was always singing.

[Alison Stewart]

How about for you, Lily?

[Chloe Holgate]

You know, my happy place was also singing. We have. There's an amazing chorus teacher there. But for me, I found my love in chamber music, which I really pursued in college and after college playing in a string quartet. And I think what's cool is that Chloe and I are. Our separate interests, have sort of found a home in this collaboration because, you know, chamber music is. It's small ensemble playing, and this is about as intimate as it can get. And so it's been really cool to kind of experience the training that I got at that school and then later in college and working and how that translates into what we've been doing together.

[Alison Stewart]

I'm speaking with Sybil. They're otherwise known as siblings Chloe and Lily Holgate. Their self titled album is out now. The album is centered around the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Edma St. Vincent Millay. Lily, what inspired the idea for the album?

[Chloe Holgate]

Well, you know, to start. When we started writing music together, we were both a little sheepish about writing our own text. You know, we're musically trained. I'm not necessarily. I'm sure one day we'll get there, but, you know, there's such a wealth of incredible poetry out there, and we wanted to sort of highlight the works of these two amazing women whose work. I've been familiar with Emily Dickinson's work for a really long time. And then in college, I got really into her stuff, and I think what we both found was actually how naturally their work lends itself to music.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Chloe Holgate]

Setting it to music is not as difficult maybe, as it could have been just because of how they write. Chloe may have more to say on that, but.

[Lily Holgate]

Yes, and in different ways. I mean, Edna St. Vincent Millais, the structure of her poetry is kind of more. Lends itself to a song form. As you just heard Emily Dickinson kind of letting her words guide the music. As you'll hear in the next song. I felt a cleaving in My mind. The form is a little bit less predictable or standard poetry form, but it kind of leads to a really wacky sort of musical exploration, which you'll hear, I hope.

[Alison Stewart]

Well, let's listen. Let's hear it. This is I Felt a Cleaving in My Mind by Sybil. I

[Sybil (Chloe and Lily Holgate singing)]

felt a cleaving in my mind.

[Alison Stewart]

I

[Sybil (Chloe and Lily Holgate singing)]

felt a cleaving in my mind as if. As if my brain had split. I tried to match it seam by seam but could not make them fit I felt a cleaving in my mind Felt a cleaving in mine Felt a cleaving in my mind Felt a cleaving in my mind Felt a cleaving Felt a cleaving in my Felt a cleaving in my mind as if. As if my brain had slipped as if my brain had split. I tried to match it seam by seam but could not make them fit. The thought behind I strove to join unto the thought before. But sequence traveled out of sound like bones upon a floor. The thought behind I strove to join unto the thought behind I strove to join unto but sequence raveled out of sound like Bo but sequence traveled out of sequence Travel till the sound like falls upon a float but sequence round of no doubt I sound like balls upon a cliff.

[Alison Stewart]

That was Sybil. I felt a cleaving in my mind by Emily Dickinson, set to music by my guests, Chloe and Lily. Their self titled debut album is out Now. Chloe, do the poems lead the music or do you have pieces of music and you find a piece of poetry, just. It lights off a bulb in your head. Aha. That's the right song.

[Lily Holgate]

No, the poetry leads to the music. Absolutely. Sometimes there have been like the one that you'll hear next. I think Lily came up with a really beautiful harmonic bed of sound. But the poetry absolutely is what led to us finding the melody. And with cleaving, all of it came from the poetry. And I think setting it to music led to a deeper understanding of the poem. And yeah, I think it's all really inspired by the poetry.

[Alison Stewart]

Nelly, you're both sopranos. What does that mean for you in terms of how you arrange the songs?

[Chloe Holgate]

Yeah, that's a. That's a really good question because I think as we've gone along, we've been trying to figure that out. And you know, for as similar as we sound, we do have very different voices. And Chloe's a. I mean, she's a trained singer, so she has certain skills that if I was trained, maybe I would have too. But, you know, we lend different qualities to. To our sound together, even though we are both sopranos. So I think what we've been trying to do is write more to my strengths and her strengths, and that's taken a while to figure out. We've done a lot of part swapping where all of us just swap parts

[Lily Holgate]

just because today this isn't feeling so easy for me. You do it. So we've done that a lot as well, but we're finding our way.

[Alison Stewart]

So you have a couple of songs that are not Emily and Edna related on the album. Why do they make sense alongside these two great poets?

[Lily Holgate]

Oh, that's a great question. Well, we have a folk song, I'll Fly Away, and we have down in the Willow Garden, which is a murder ballad, which was. Which was a project that we thought we wanted to explore. Even we thought we wanted a whole album of murder ballads, but they're too dark. It was too much to sit in that all the time. Although I think. Lily, do you want to talk about kind of what the poetry explores as far as mental health?

[Chloe Holgate]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The poems we chose are very reflective of, of course, like things in our own life. Struggling with depression, for example, or anxiety, and trying to find work that really speaks to something personal within each of us. And something about the traditional songs that we arranged was weirdly complements those texts, whether it be like, okay, it's a murder ballad. It's a story of a woman being murdered and wanting to give voice to these women poets and then explore our own female voices and our own struggles. Like, there's kind of a mashup of exploring female voices. I think there's a lot of this.

[Lily Holgate]

There's a lot of tension and release. And with the murder ballad, it's kind of giving voice to the voiceless. It's told by the point of view of the man that killed this woman, Rose Connolly. But because we're two female singers, there's something kind of eerie about it. But also like we're telling her story now and then with All Fly Away, it's kind of. It's kind of the opposite. It's like a release at the end of the album. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

The last song you're going to perform is the same one that you won the Public Song project with in 2023. Any tips for people submitting songs to the Public Song Project now? Any advice on how to find something that inspires them?

[Chloe Holgate]

Ooh, well, I think, you know, for me, something that's always important is like, does it tell a story and is it a story that speaks to you? And so whether it's a song that you're covering that's in the public domain, or if you're setting a poem like we did, like, what just gives you that kind of spark of inspiration? Or can you hear a potential sound world around whatever story you found, even if it's in a very brief poem or something. So that for me often drives what we do is what is the story behind this?

[Lily Holgate]

I think that's so true. And I think it's like there's so many public domain things you could choose that I would be overwhelmed. So you really have to choose what speaks to you and not what is. Like, what's the most obscure thing that no one else would do? You know, I think it's like, what's exciting to you?

[Alison Stewart]

I have been speaking with Sybil AKA Chloe and Lily Holgate. Their self titled album is out now. What's the last song you're going to perform for us?

[Chloe Holgate]

This is Afternoon on a Hill, a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

[Sybil (Chloe and Lily Holgate singing)]

Oh, I will be the gladdest thing under the sun. I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one. I will look, I will look

[Lily Holgate]

at

[Sybil (Chloe and Lily Holgate singing)]

cliffs and clouds with quiet eyes. Watch the wind bow down the ground grass and the grass rise the grass ris. And when the lights begin to show up from the town. I will mark which must be mine and then start down.

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[Chloe Holgate]

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[Chloe Holgate]

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