Simply beautiful. Foy Vance’s ‘Sapling’ is all about his wonderfully characterful voice and the gorgeous melody it enfolds. There is such an emotional power in the lyrics and the delivery, reinforcing the themes of rebirth, renewal and regeneration. There’s genuine hopefulness in the promises Vance makes to his love through the words of ‘Sapling’. He explains something of his feelings when the song was written: “When I wrote ‘Sapling’ I had a daughter and a son. Between then and now, I proposed to my wife, married her the next day – she didn’t know anything about it, it was a secret wedding up in the woods near Kenmore. I flew her soul sister over from Australia to marry us. It was a beautiful, wild night.”
This single was released alongside ‘Signs of Life’. Together, the two songs offer a taste of what is to come from his fourth studio album, which we can expect later this year. The follow up to ‘The Wild Swan’ promises to match the intensity and melodic pull of that highly-regarded 2016 record. If the government’s ‘road map’ goes to plan, then we can look forward to Foy Vance performing both singles live at the Black Deer Festival soon. In the meantime, lose yourself in this.
