Photo by Ciana Taylor.

About

Ladyfern, AKA Sylvie Benson, is a 23-year-old songwriter-performer from the redwoods of Northern California. Daughter of an actor and a restoration ecologist, she’s been studying performance and drawing inspiration from the natural world since early childhood. Self-accompanying with guitar, dulcimer, and Andean charango, she’s known for her unique folk-fusion sound and evocative, sensory lyrics. Recipient of awards like The Circle Session’s Best Featured Act 2025 and the Eugene Roitman Excellence in Music Award, she graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Music and English in June 2025. Sylvie has had the honor of performing at venues around the world, a few of which include: Eclectic Sounds Festival in Willow Creek, CA, Greenkey Festival in Hanover, NH, Éalú le Grá in Galwa, GARO Live in Osaka, The October Gallery in London, and Sin É in Dublin. Postgrad, she’s using her multi-genre training to teach songwriting and voice, perform solo and in her band, and hopefully help someone out there feel more connected to their root network. So put your ear to the ground! Sylvie’s been planting, and some new music is soon to sprout…