Laois folk singer releases new single penned days before moving back to Ireland
Coolrain musician Molly Donnery opens up about returning home and pursuing music as a full-time career
Laois singer, harpist and songwriter Molly Donnery is getting ready to release a brand new single.
The Coolrain musician wrote her new song ‘The Stream’ just days before moving from Berlin back to Ireland.
‘The Stream’ captures a period of significant change for Donnery, as she navigated the uncertainty of returning home and pursuing music as a full-time career in Dublin.
Molly says: “I wrote The Stream a few days before moving back home from Berlin to Ireland. It was written as a way to cope with the huge changes I was going through at the time, and the fear of choosing to try to make music work as a full time job in a place like Dublin, which is becoming harder to make a living in no matter what field you end up in. The song was more of a momentary escape at the time but very quickly became one of my favourite songs to perform live”.
She also notes how “special” it was to return to Ireland to work with close friend, collaborator and instrumentalist Naoise May, before recording the song in Camden Studios with producer Bernhardt Bix McKenna-Doeblitz, mastering engineer Ruadhrí Cushnan and mixing engineer Alessandro Di Camillo.
The single features May on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar and vocals, Izzy Donnery on bodhrán, Cait Fleming on fiddle and vocals, Tadhg Byrne on viola, and Joshua Sampson on drums.
Initially serving as a momentary escape during an uncertain period, ‘The Stream’ draws on personal experiences to create intimate, thoughtful songwriting, offering a glimpse into the uncertainty of change and the courage it takes to pursue a creative life.
Molly’s career has been going from strength to strength since releasing her debut EP, Times We Shared In Innocence, in October 2024.
This introduced listeners to her distinctive blend of traditional Irish influences and modern folk songwriting, earning praise from RTÉ Radio 1, Kindline Magazine, Pop Passion and more.
The six-track collection explored the complexities of relationships, love and loss, pairing deeply personal lyrics with rich musical arrangements. Drawing comparisons to some of folk’s most celebrated singer-songwriters, Kindline Magazine described Donnery’s sound as “the lyrical prowess of Joni Mitchell and the emotional rawness of Phoebe Bridgers with a modern folk twist.”
Since then, Donnery has continued to build her live profile, establishing herself as an emerging voice in Ireland’s contemporary folk scene, bringing her music to wider audiences with an appearance on The Late Late Show as part of TradFest 2025, a performance at All Together Now 2025 and a headline show in Whelan’s Main Room as part of Whelan’s Trad and Folk Festival 2026.
‘The Stream’ releases Wednesday, October 21st to all major streaming services.