Today sees How I Became A Wave drop self titled debut album

How I Became A Wave is the eponymous debut album from the Atlantic-inspired alt-folk ensemble, How I Became A Wave, out now via Absolute 

Over nine tracks, singer-songwriter and guitarist Pat Carey leads an ensemble cast of musicians through songs of grief and joy as most of us experience them – not in sequence, but in cycles. 

The album draws on a remarkable ensemble. Among them former Hard Ground bandmates Davie Ryan and Hugh Dillon, pianist Rory McCarthy, harpist Aisling Urwin, cellists Laura McFadden and Aoife Burke, and Matthew Berrill, baritone clarinettist with Iarla Ó Lionáird — with string and piano arrangements by Cormac McCarthy, known for his work with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Album focus single ‘Zero Sum’ is a song that, according to Carey, “lives in that grey space – the aftermath, or the in between. I call it the ‘bargaining stage’. In moments, it can be shocking what you would give (or give up) just to get back what you have lost. Your principles, your pride, your self. One way or another though, there will always have to be a reckoning.” 

How I Became A Wave is available across all streaming platforms, as a digital download and as a limited edition 12″ gatefold vinyl that brings together music and visual art, featuring cover artwork based on the original oil painting ‘Towards Pabaigh’ by Scottish artist Ellis O’Connor, design by West Cork creative Megan Clancy, insert image by Cork-based artist Leslie Allen Spillane, and handwritten liner notes and lyrics from Pat Carey, who steers How I Became A Wave as a collaborative, multidisciplinary project. 

Album track listing 
You Always Had A Way With Words 
Zero Sum 
Cycles 
05:00
Fading Out 
Sea Swell 
The Stray 
Don’t Find Me 
The Underside

 http://BUY / STREAM ALBUM

Irish tour dates are on sale now, including full band shows at Coughlan’s, Cork on 12 April (first show sold out; extra show on sale now) and The Unitarian Church, Dublin (17 April), in addition to upcoming supports with acclaimed US singer-songwriter Joan Shelley in Dublin and Lisa O’Neill at Galway Folk Festival, among others → Tickets here 

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