The Whileaways see three distinct voices combine to weave a beguiling tapestry of harmonies and beautifully crafted original song. Their sound is true, their delivery undeniably engaging. Their "audiacious debut" eponymous album received four stars in The Irish Times and RTE Album of the Week. These three singers could all front their own projects, and indeed have. With six previous albums to their collective credit, this is their debut as one. Noriana Kennedy, Nicola Joyce and Noelie Mc Donnell came to know each other’s singing over a number of years, playing in sessions in the folk melting pot of Galway city. Dipping their toe in the water as a trio, they were hailed as ‘a knockout of the festival’ at the legendary Port Fairy Folk Festival in 2012. Overwhelming public reaction prompted a recording, and their debut album recorded in a log cabin in Co Galway. Though well-versed in the Irish and American folk tradition, The Whileaways add their own songs to the canon. The album opens with Kennedy’s Dear My Maker, where the familiar narrative of a love lost is turned on its head. “I’m here to break hearts / And turn love away” goes the refrain of a song that roams the path less taken. Noelie McDonnell takes the lead on Queen Of December, a song that seems to celebrate the promise of warmth offered by the cold. It’s followed by the beguiling Until Then, penned by Nicola Joyce. From there on, The Whileaways’ debut melds the new with the old, closing with their measured take on Banks Of The Ohio. Most certainly imbued with the sounds of their respective travels on both sides of the Atlantic, this debut brings something fresh to the familiar. More than that, it is beautifully original, in a way that doesn’t allow it to sit complacently in the Americana box.