Inspired #329 - Sonny Casey
Galway based singer songwriter Sonny Casey has just released her new single ‘A Thousand Setting Suns’ - a bittersweet story of letting go of a loved one who’s hurt you and being at peace with no longer having them in your life. She took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind her music.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Bruce Springsteen because I was raised on him. Passenger because I love lyrics more than anything and his songs are like poetry. And Damien Rice because he sounds like he's bleeding when he sings. Ooh and Gregory Alan Isakov because his songs make me feel warm and safe.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
I usually fall asleep in the middle of films but once I was forced to stay awake for all of Shawshank Redemption. I guess it's inspiring because it's like if you keep chipping away at something relentlessly, eventually you'll pave your way and get to where you want to be.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
It used to be Berlin but now that I live here it feels different. Now I look back on my travels and places like Edinburgh stand out.
When you're there, you're gazing at buildings that look like Hogwarts and gravestones with Harry Potter characters' names engraved on them and it makes you realise how powerful the imagination and creativity can be, how the outer world influences the inner world and how one woman can create an entire Universe with words alone.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
I don't think I can choose only one person. It always changes depending on where I am and what I'm going through. I think if you're open to it, you meet the right person at the right time and they move you in the way you need to be moved and you come away feeling inspired.
What were your inspirations when writing your new track?
I was moved by the nostalgia of past loved. By all those ginormous feelings that hit you when you love someone and lose them.
Nature and childhood inspired the song too because I feel like they're always at the core of everything.
How would you like to inspire people?
When I was a teenager I remember reading this quote, it was something like 'when you shine your light you unconsciously give others permission to shine their light too'. So I'd like to just continue living in a way that makes me feel alight. So that if anyone else sees that light it'll remind them of their own and then we can all just burn as brightly as possible. Or something like that.