THREE INDIVIDUALS who were also three songwriters, three singers, and three obsessive fans of the folk music of the United States, all were on their own paths until eventually they came to point of intersection and a new direction was born.
The Whileaways, a folk trio of Noriana Kennedy, Noelie McDonnell, Nicola Joyce, will launch their eponymous debut album in the Róisín Dubh on Sunday May 19 at 9pm.
The trio boast solid pedigree in the folk/singer-songwriter field. Noelie has enjoyed success and critical acclaim for his solo albums Noelie McDonnell and Beyond Hard Places; Nicola Joyce is a member of the much admired trad band Gráda; while Noriana impressed with her debut solo album Ebb’n’Flow, which The Irish Times praised for its “exquisite phrasing and a songbook as wide as a southern porch”.
All could have opted to tread their own path, but when Noriana enlisted McDonnell and Joyce for a tour of Australia last year, an idea was born that their joining forces could be a good move. A subsequent tour of Germany convinced them of it.
“We had been playing casually together in Galway, but it was the German tour that caused us t think about working together,” Nicola tells me as I sit with her and Noriana for the interview. “We did a 26 date tour and it gave us the kick in the arse we needed to record the album.”
First though, was the matter of a name for the trio. “It was a process of elimination,” laughs Nicola. “It was one we all agreed on that didn’t offend anyone else. It suits the music, you can ‘whileaway the hours’ and it also rolls off the tongue.”
The resulting album, The Whileaways, recorded in Tuam and Dublin, features 10 songs, with three each written by each member and concluding with a rendition of the American folk tune ‘Banks Of Ohio’.
“We built the album around each other,” explains Noriana, “from the songs I had during the Australian tour, to songs Noelie thought would suit the band.”
Given that both women have previously recorded folk songs, covers, and interpretations, an album of their own originals is an important departure for them.
“Noelie has never been shy about putting out his songs but I had always been working in digging out old folk numbers,” says Nicola. “This is a new departure for me and Noriana. These are our songs, created by us, and you feel an ownership of them. It’s very different and it’s very satisfying.”
“This is the first time I’ve recorded my own songs,” says Noriana. “It was through the encouragement of Nicola and Noelie that I did. When you start to write songs you can be shy, but we helped each other out. It’s definitely a progression and something we want to explore more.”
The sound of the album is steeped in three part vocal harmonies and acoustic folk, strongly influenced by the traditional music of the United States as well as singer-songwriters like Gillian Welch and Jolie Holland. What is the attraction for the trio of American folk?
“There is its connection to Irish folk going back generations,” says Noriana, “but also it is the way it uses harmonies and voices. It’s also simple music, never complicated. They are easy songs to learn and share.”
“Yet there is so much about it that is clever,” says Nicola, “and you will hear parts that will catch you and make you think ‘I want to know how that’s done’.”
The Whileaways is a highly appealing album, due to its stripped down, intimate nature, the understanding and empathy the performers share, and the honesty of the material.
“When it comes to signing in three part harmony there is no need to work out the parts,” says Nicola. “Where our voice sit naturally is in just the right register to work well with and blend with each other.”
The album opens with Noriana’s ‘Dear My Maker’, which she describes as “the flip side of the love song”. “It’s about the frustrations of a relationship break-ups and how the heart breaker can be hurting just as much as the broken hearted.”
Coming at the end of the album, and pursuing a theme of calm rather than stress, is Nicola’s ‘Wishing Well’. “It’s about making do with the simple things,” she says, “and learning to be content with lot. The far away hills aren’t always greener.”
The launch of The Whileaways marks the start of a busy schedule for the trio, and later this year they will play the Tønder Festival in Denmark, tour Ireland, and be featured on both The John Murray Show on RTÉ Radio 1 and The Late Late Show. It is a good start and this is only the first step for The Whileaways.
Tickets are available at www.roisindubh.net, from the Ticket Desk at OMG, Shop Street (formerly Zhivago ), and The Róisín Dubh.
