ALBUM RELEASE WEEK: How I Became A Wave to Share Debut Album
By How I Became A Wave to share debut album
this Friday 27th March
How I Became A Wave is the eponymous debut album from the Atlantic-inspired alt-folk ensemble, How I Became A Wave, releasing Friday 27 March → Pre-order here
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.
How I Became A Wave will be 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. Pat Carey says: “At the heart of How I Became A Wave is a sense of collaboration – of connection between artists. Inviting artists of different disciplines into the creative process has been key to the journey. Understanding how other people see, hear and feel my work has been enlightening, affirming and vital, making sure that what we have created is a living body of work that I hope will continue to be expressed in changing ways.”
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
Live support slots with Lisa Hannigan, Villagers, Gemma Hayes, Niamh Regan, Ailbhe Reddy, John Spillane and more further cement the quality of this project, demonstrating the backing it has received from some of the genre’s most respected artists. Festival appearances at Your Roots Are Showing, Quiet Lights and Sounds From A Safe Harbour have continued to build momentum, introducing the work to new audiences.
Reception has been strong across the board — the album has clocked hundreds of plays across 20+ Irish stations, earned multiple additions to the RTÉ Radio 1 Recommends List, and picked up a play from Dermot O’Leary on BBC Radio 2. At the beginning of this year, How I Became A Wave was named in the Irish Independent’s Ones to Watch for 2026. They wrote: “Pat Carey makes music that quietly acknowledges the strength it takes to be vulnerable, and the comfort that comes from creativity and collaboration” – perfectly summing up the ethos of this project, which has been a long time in the making.
Carey says: “I have sat with these songs, pulled and pushed at them for what seems like a decade now. It’s taken that long to come to a place where I can sit comfortably with my own voice, where I can embrace both the vulnerability and strength of authentic self expression.”
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
Recorded at Wavefield Studios and Under The Umbrella Studios, Cork.
Produced by Pat Carey and Davie Ryan.
Mixed by Ber Quinn.
Mastered by Sam Proctor at Lismore Mastering.
UPCOMING LIVE DATES
Mar 29 – Dublin – Whelan’s (Joan Shelley support)
Apr 12 – Cork – Coughlan’s, 3:00pm (Full band show)
Apr 12 – Cork – Coughlan’s, 7:30pm (Full band show) – SOLD OUT
Apr 17 – Dublin – The Unitarian Church (Full band show)
Apr 19 – Kinsale, Prim’s Bookshop
Apr 30 – Balor Arts Centre, Donegal
Jun 4 – Galway Folk Festival (Lisa O’Neill support)
Tickets on sale now from howibecameawave.com