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The Whileaways Release New Single ‘The Milking Parlour Band’

October 8, 2021

The Whileaways release their new single ‘The Milking Parlour Bar’ on 8th October, a song about the importance of true friends and the magic nights of music shared.

The song showcases a new, fresh sound from The Whileaways while still featuring the band’s trademark rich vocal harmonies – a taste of what’s to come from their forthcoming album ‘In All Honesty’ due for release in Spring 2022.

Noelie explains the inspiration for the song: ‘It’s been a time when we’ve all missed things that we previously took for granted – singing together, playing together, dancing together, even just being together. This song is a celebration of friendship and the simple joy of being in each other’s company all under one little roof, one blanket of truth, full of music and laughter and joy. And whatever they happened to be serving at The Milking Parlour Bar.’

The Whileaways are Noelie McDonnell, Noriana Kennedy and Nicola Joyce, three accomplished singers who came to know each other while on the session circuit in Galway in 2012. Since then they have released three critically acclaimed albums, toured all over the world, and been nominated for Best Group and Best Album in the RTÉ Folk Awards. Praise from international press has been heaped upon the band with The Irish Echo calling their sound ‘perfected simplicity’, and Hot Press saying that the trio ‘stake their claim to being among the finest singers in the country’.

2019 saw the band broaden their repertoire with Bird On The Wire, a collaboration between The Whileaways and Pauline Scanlon. Featuring a ten-piece band including strings, the show is a unique combination of outstanding singers exploring their own interpretations of the wonderfully rich music and words of the icon that is Leonard Cohen. The show has been performed to sold-out audiences at The Pepper Canister Church in Dublin and Belfast’s Empire Music Hall and London’s Union Chapel. The show comes to Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre on October 30th , and tickets are almost sold out!

‘The Milking Parlour Bar’ is taken from the band’s upcoming album In All Honesty , produced by Alex Borwick and Sean Og Graham. Borwick and Og Graham brought a subtle electronica influence to the project which was very much a new direction for the band. The combination of band and producers has resulted in a wonderful marriage of minds and an album that, while still very acoustic sounding, is elevated by more creative studio production.

The Whileaways will tour for their album launch in spring 2022. The band trialled many of the songs at their ‘Live from Home’ online gigs during lockdown. People tuned in every single week from all over the world: mothers in Galway watching with their daughter in London and their son in New York, Zookeepers in England, people from Alaska to New Zealand. But mostly it was neighbours and friends who couldn’t meet each other in person saying instead ‘See you at the gig’. It became a very special and unique time for the band to connect with their fans. As a result, The Whileaways can’t wait to get out and see these people in person and play their new material from In All Honesty, so they’ve just announced a very special hometown show in Town Hall Theatre in Galway on 11 December.

www.thewhileaways.com

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