This year has been brilliantly vibrant for Irish music, as Una Mullally's recent Year in Culture Review can testify, but it's been a particularly brilliant year for Saint Sister, the electro-pop-folk duo from Northern Ireland. Having won the hearts of so many fans through their enchanting live shows since 2014, the release of their debut album Shape of Silence this year has made our hearts even fuller.
Gemma Doherty and Morgan MacIntrye met just as their time as students at Trinity College was coming to an end. Having been told by mutual friends that they should meet and make music together, they finally made the leap and not only did they create new music that plays to both of their strengths, they forged a new friendship along the way too. As two of the hardest-working women in Irish music, and two of the most talented, we can only aspire to have them as our Very Best Friends.
Sharing vocal duties, the harmonies which Doherty and MacIntyre create highlight their shared understanding of each other as artists, complementing their range and tones. With Doherty on harp, the spine of their music is traditional but as MacIntrye layers on synths and they manipulate their vocals, you can’t place their sound in one genre or one timeframe. And as they navigate the trials and tribulations of falling in and out of love, they nail the complexities of your mid-20s.
On Twin Peaks, they capture the cosy hideaway that two people who are madly in love can create; perfectly content with distancing themselves from the rest of the world but on Causing Trouble, the distance that those two people projected on the rest of the world soon finds a place within their relationship. "But honey I know you. We dance to Elvis in the kitchen, at least we used to" go the lyrics, laden with sadness as they mourn the passing of time. You Never Call reiterates the little lies we tell ourselves to nurse a wounded pride. "You never call me. Don't you have my number, I guess you lost it," they sing, weighing up their real-life experiences against their fragmented and hazy memories, wondering what's real and what they want to be real. The James Vincent McMorrow remix of it is a delight.
Their music can be deconstructed and built upon, meaning that they can play with Lisa Hannigan to a hushed crowd in the ruins of the Sunken Church on Inis Oírr, using the acoustics of their surroundings, or they can fill the National Concert Hall, backed up by their touring band.
Soft-spoken voices
Having spent most of 2018 touring the Shape of Silence across Ireland, Europe, the US and Canada, they've really grown as performers, luring us in with their soft-spoken voices and holding our attention as songs like Steady and Half Awake cast their spell. As the year comes to a close, it feels right to celebrate everything that Saint Sister have achieved in their four years together.
Shape of Silence is one of the finest records to be released in Ireland this year. From those who first saw Doherty and MacIntrye perform when they had just a handful of songs to their name, this record measures how far they've come musically and lyrically.
The bones of who they were was always evident, even when they played their first gig at the Workman’s Club as part of the Hard Working Class Heroes festival, but they’ve only gone and raised their own standards even further. In a music scene so vibrant, their stillness is what makes them stand out but their determination and unique vision will make sure that we always have a reason to listen.
