Morgan MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty – better known as Choice Music Prize nominees Saint Sister – aren't strangers to ‘Dreams’ or its enigmatic singer, Dolores O’Riordan. In 2018, the duo covered the song themselves in their signature lilting folk style. 

Despite their own version, the duo jumped at the opportunity to participate in the Irish Women in Harmony single. “We were approached by my good friend Karen from Wyvern Lingo,” Gemma recalls. “RuthAnne had already assembled an amazing group of women at this point, and it was shaping up to be a very diverse line-up across lots of genres, which was exciting.” 

However, it was also difficult for the two women to wrap their heads around the notion that a charity single of this magnitude – featuring all female voices – had not yet been done. “It’s a shame we still have to shout for women’s voices and their instruments to be heard and recognised,” Gemma says. “But the range of scale of talent and strength in this group coming together felt very powerful. 

“That media representation is a very powerful thing. If we don’t see people who look like us or people we can identify with doing a certain thing, it becomes ingrained that something may not be for us to do. Amplifying voices, in this case the voices of Irish women in music, is a key step in the road to equality.” 

Like all of the women on this single, Saint Sister look to Dolores O’Riordan as a pioneer in that regard. “I will always be in awe of Dolores’s voice,” Morgan adds. “The power of it, the rare moments of softness, and the way she could throw it seemed other-worldly.” 

Ironically, you could use any one of those words to describe Saint Sister as well – O’Riordan’s undeniable brilliance lives on in their talent. “Seeing any woman doing what I wanted to do as a child was inspiring, the very thought that it might be possible might have been enough, but seeing someone with her voice and words was something else. Dolores, alongside Sinead O’Connor and later on Lisa Hannigan, became a reason to try and make a go of it, something to strive for.” 

Watch Irish Women in Harmony cover 'Dreams' below.