Saint Sister have released their new single with Lisa Hannigan The Place That I Work. The traditional Irish ballad tells the story of an estranged friendship rekindling. The Northern Irish duo announced the news on social media saying; “We’re so happy to have a new song and video out in the world today.” Lisa Hannigan also shared how happy she was to be a part of the project saying; “Always a joy to sing with @saint_sister_ .”
Speaking to Hotpress about the song, band member Gemma Doherty said; “After a few attempts at an arrangement, it seemed like it should be quite free and driven by the vocals, possibly a cappella. We’re so used to singing as a duo and creating vocal harmony with two voices, but with three voices you can find a real sense of completion within the chords. When we started thinking of it in three-parts, the first voice that came to mind was Lisa’s.”
Along with the new song, the band released a music video, filmed in The Winding Stair bookshop in Dublin because of its relevance to the song, Gemma explained the origin of the song, saying; “I wrote this song while I was working as a Christmas temp in Dublin’s oldest book shop, Hodges Figgis. One day a friend, who I hadn’t seen since we had a misunderstanding, came in and caught me completely off guard.” She continued; “I was, all at once, angry that we hadn’t talked for months and that they had chosen now, to come to where I worked to make peace, but also undeniably relieved and happy to see them, to know we were still friends.”
The song was recorded a year ago in The Meadow in Wicklow, Ireland, where it was performed for Ruby Sessions At Home in March in aid of the Dublin Simon Community, a homelessness charity. Speaking about the song on Instagram the band said; “We wanted to bring some of what made that night so important to us to this video, so with that in mind we are encouraging a donation to Simon Community. A lot of us have temporarily lost the place that we work but too many people live without a home, without a safe space at all. Mind yourselves and mind each other.”
The Place That I Work is out now on all platforms, the music video is down below.
