While You’re Away, the debut original album from Irish singer-songwriter Genevieve, has released independently on 4 September 2026. Originally from Tyrone and now based in Clare, Genevieve creates easy-listening acoustic music with folk, country and singer-songwriter influences, drawing inspiration from artists including Alison Krauss and Laura Marling.

There’s quite a personal story behind the album. Most of the songs were written with her dad while Genevieve was living in Melbourne. Genevieve says, Before moving to Australia, I sang one of my own songs, With You, for my family at my leaving party. In my goodbye card, Mum filled my goodbye card with messages of encouragement, including ‘Keep on singing’. Dad simply added beside it, ‘Keep on writing’. Looking back, it feels fitting that writing songs together became our way of staying connected while I was away.” The ideas would bounce back and forth through emails and WhatsApp messages between Australia and Ireland and eventually on to Sao Paulo, Brazil where my brother produced the album.” 

Genevieve recorded the guitar and vocals together, rather than recording them separately, at The Aviary Recording Studios in Melbourne in 2022. Her live recordings give her songs a very natural and intimate feel. 

The songs cover family, love, loss, weddings and different stories from her life during her time living abroad. Hand in Hand was written for her sister’s wedding and was released as a single on her own second wedding anniversary. The Child We Knew was written following her brother’s serious illness and recovery, while With You is a particularly special song written following a personal loss.

Genevieve has had some lovely early support for her album from Irish radio. Hand In Hand was selected by Clare FM for their  Irish Artist of the Week feature . 

A Walk in Your Shoes was selected for BBC Radio Ulster’s Where Music Matters playlist for the month of July, which was a really exciting opportunity and led to her being invited to sing on one of the BBC Ulster slots close to the release date.