Emma Langford Collaborates with Belfast Poet On New Single “Sowing Acorns”

Emma Langford has released the title track, Sowing Acorns – a new single in collaboration with Belfast born and based poet Vanessa Ifediora. 

Emma Langford Collaborates with Belfast Poet On New Single “Sowing Acorns”

 As a taster of what’s to come on her upcoming second album, Irish singer-songwriter Emma Langford has released the title track, Sowing Acorns – a new single in collaboration with Belfast born and based poet Vanessa Ifediora. The indie-pop sensibilities that shine through the Limerick artist’s latest offering once again showcase her versatility as a writer and composer. 

 Emma worked closely with Grammy-nominated duo Chris O’Brien and Graham Murphy of The Production Suite, Dublin, in transforming a simple lullaby into an epic hands-in-the-air style anthem.

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Emma worked closely with Grammy-nominated duo Chris O’Brien and Graham Murphy of The Production Suite, Dublin, in transforming a simple lullaby into an epic hands-in-the-air style anthem.

“The track started small – I wrote it to try and calm myself, I was feeling trapped and exhausted and like I was mentally spiralling because I couldn’t sleep, and when I did it was restless and disturbed by fever dreams,” she says of the song’s origins, “but when I brought it to studio, I knew I wanted it to be less understated, and to have a sense of drama.”

 The track opens with finger-picked guitar and the soothing speaking voice of Vanessa Ifediora reading the words of her poem “Off-White Sheets”. The listener is lulled deep into a false sense of security by the singer’s familiar lilt on the opening verses, until the song builds to a powerful chorus, supported by layered vocals and drums, creating the artist’s biggest sound yet. The energy of the track ebbs and flows like the tide; it is mesmerising.

 Emma wrote Sowing Acorns in 2017 while finishing her MA in Community Music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick. The Academy building boasts a dazzling mosaic illustrating Irish myths such as ‘the hazelnuts of wisdom’, which Emma says inspired the concept for the lyrics:

 “It’s not a direct reference, but the imagery of the hazelnuts of wisdom got me thinking about how ‘from little seeds great things grow’ – the lyric in the chorus is ‘I’ve been sowing acorns in my densely woven mind’; everything I’ve done in my life has been a seed, planted in my mind, that grew into something bigger, and those experiences and decisions form how we think, what we dream. Those moments of decision-making and growth are important.” 

 Vanessa’s poem, sampled in the track, draws on her experiences of a condition called Maladaptive Daydreaming and was published in March 2019 in her first book “Off-White Sheets”, a collection of images and poems detailing her anxieties surrounding recovery from depression. 

 ‘Sowing Acorns’ the new single from Emma Langford is available across online stores. Keep an eye out for the official music video, and a remix by Belfast-based Electronic/ambient artist Arvo Party coming soon.

 Buy or listen to Sowing Acorns here

 Emma will release her second album, “Sowing Acorns”, on Friday 18th September 2020. For news on new releases, click here.

For more stories on Emma Langford please click here.