Music & Projects

the Brooks fellowship (2025-2026) :

“Re-Enchanting Forests: Music as a Catalyst For Restoring Ireland’s Native Woodlands” was a self-designed eco-folk grant project culminating in a fundraising concert for Irish nonprofit Reforest Nation’s native tree-planting initiative. Over nine months, Sylvie composed an environmentally-themed song cycle with an Irish twist, collaborating with renowned Irish musician Jimmy Smyth to co-produce tracks like “Fox Dressed as a Friend” (right) and “Salamander Soul” (below).

Fox Dressed as a Friend
Ladyfern

“Salamander Soul” live at The Spark Lab during the concert. This song is Sylvie’s call to reconnect to the nurturing power of nature in an age of unrelenting generative AI.

sylvie’s sawtooth farewell concert 2025:

A clip of Sylvie’s song “Where to Find a Lover”. See Jayanth Uppaluri (bass), Annie Mills (fiddle), Ben Schirmeier (drums), Daisy Triggs (backup vocals) and Decker Jackson (keys and second guitar). Video by India Jones.

The Source EP 2024:

A self-released five-track song cycle that draws from ecofeminist ideas, fatherly wisdom, the tragedy known as investment banking, Enya, folk and psychedelic rock, and the stories of eccentric old women. Co-produced by Sylvie Benson and Raegan Padula. Mastering by Sunny Nam. Available on all platforms; linked in header.

Returning Home:

Musical Explorations of Femininity, Nature, and The Self (2024)

A six week Pacific Northwest tour with Raegan Padula (left) as duo Damselfly. Using live bass, guitar and vocals over self-produced backing tracks and live processing, the two artists created and performed music inspired by the landscapes of their upbringings.Supported by The Hopkins Center of the Arts.

More projects…

Cover art by Ivy Fu.

A self-organized, culminating spring concert of Sylvie’s work in undergraduate music study at Dartmouth. Supported by a band of her peers, she performed 12 originals across genres with guitar, vocals and charango at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover, NH.

Cover art by Ivy Fu.

"Cloud Cuckoo Land" - sylvie

Photo by Nick Marshall.

  • From April through May of 2023, Sylvie developed skills as a recording artist under the tutelage of award-winning sound engineer, filmmaker and producer Michael Everett. Wandering the almond orchard next to the Creation Lab in Turlock, CA for writing inspiration, she dedicated her days to recording and mixing original music. Using the studio's analog equipment and industry standard DAW Protools, she created the framework of now released songs “The Doe,” “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” and “LET ME OUT!”

Photos by Mikey Lapointe.

See snips of our journey here:https://www.instagram.com/damselflytheband?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

  • With the support of the Davin K. Polk Fund, Sylvie assembled a team of student sound engineers, musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, choreographers and dancers to put on a concert of original music at an outdoor stage space in New Hampshire called BEMA. Stills by Polly Chesnokova.

Check out my music!