Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Saints go marching on with heavenly debut...
Northern Ireland’s Sister act album is a triumph Snow Patrol star shines a Light on talented Roe
be fair, long time. was a real jaw dustrial, the ng. It remains finest songs It also made ion to their eem like a ch it wasn’t. soon after, abbling in onship in a life after corpses and ey’d go on to name a single after Twin Peaks – arguably the creepiest TV show we’ve ever seen – in which everything was a little left of centre and not of this earth. That’s Saint Sister in a nutshell: beautiful, mysterious, a little... curious. Or just plain old weird.
That said, there’s reality in this record too – honest reactions to growing up in a fractured and confused society, never quite knowing where you stand, or where you should perhaps be headed. While Shape of Silence is essentially a compilation of their work to date, it’s worth noting that two brand new songs really stand out. The hypnotic Half Awake and a gloriously simple, dark little lullaby named The Mater, which brings the record to a silent conclusion.
During the album’s creation over the last three years, Dublin really got onboard. Working alongside Alex Ryan – bassist with Hozier, definitely helped. Saint Sister are huge in the south, to the point they recently found themselves playing to a stuffed Olympia Theatre – that legendary old venue on Dame Street that every act on this island dreams of one day headlining. They’ll also have toured the world by Christmas. Shows coast to coast across North America happened in September and early October, leading up to an Irish tour which started this week. Then it’s Australia and a shows in Europe (some as support to Hozier) before gigs in the UK. They’re being worked hard, only getting started on what will no doubt be a lengthy victory lap celebrating the ultimate slow burner, an astounding record. Albeit one it might take the world a little while to get their head around.
Saint Sister play The Black Box,
Belfast, tomorrow and at The
Glass Works, Derry, on Sunday. A few weeks ago I mentioned how Gary Lightbody does so much to help cultivate new Northern Irish music – constantly tweeting to his army of followers about his latest discovery or bringing local acts out on tour.
He’s at it again – this time with Derry act Roe who’ll support Snow Patrol, playing shows across the UK next year including one at the O2 in London (which holds 10 million people). It’s far from tokenism though. Roe is an incredible prospect and absolutely fantastic live, especially as it’s just one person – 19-year-old Roisin Donald. We’re blessed with an onslaught of talented young women gradually taking over the scene, of which Roe is arguably the best. It’s a good sign Gary’s onboard, to. He has a history of getting behind acts who’d go on to be huge. One of his band’s last shows in Belfast featured a then relatively unknown SOAK. This time around, Snow Patrol are also shining a light on Portaferry’s Ryan Mcmullan – he’ll warm up for them at the shows in Belfast next month. Ryan is already pretty huge, of course, having sold out the Ulster Hall for his show just before Christmas.