FIRST Fortnight’s #fiveonfriday blog aims to provide an insight into the performers, artists and creative minds who get involved in the festival.

By posting five questions and answers every Friday, we hope not just to entertain but to keep the conversation about mental health going throughout the year.

First up is dreamy folk duo Saint Sister performing as part of FF16 at the We Cut Corners-curated Therapy Sessions in The Workman’s Club tonight.

Gemma Doherty and Morgan MacIntyre joined forces late in 2014 and quickly forged ahead creatively with a packed writing and gigging schedule, including a set at Electric Picnic and tours with Spies and Wyvern Lingo, and the release of their debut EP.

Interview: Michael Quinn

1. It’s been one hell of a year: Did you expect to forge such a strong musical connection so early?

Not initially. When we met in November last year it was just for a coffee and for a chat. We were both in the ‘post college blues’ phase, at a loose end, desperate to be making music but not sure in what capacity. We quickly started to realise we both wanted the same thing and were getting on really well. We started writing together in the same week and without really talking about it we just became a unit and completely committed to the band. Now we spend every day together writing or rehearsing.

2. You’re both from the North but met in Trinity… Do you think your shared origins/experiences have helped mould your sound as much as your musical influences?

We have quite different musical backgrounds. Morgan grew up playing guitar and listening to a lot of singer-song writers, great story tellers like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, and was singing as a singer-song writer by the time she was 17. Gemma, having studied composition in college, comes from a background in classical and traditional music. We bring different things to the table when it comes to writing, so we kind of balance each other out!

3. You’ve already worked with some great musicians and supported some great acts… who is the person that you’d most like to work with or perform with in the industry at the moment?

Two artists we really enjoy are James Vincent McMorrow and James Blake.

Since you’re involved with First Fortnight, we think it’s important to ask one question which touches on mental health….

4. You’ve said that a lot of the songs on your Madrid EP deal with loneliness and perhaps that loneliness often inspires your work. Can you remember when you first started using this feeling as a creative force?

Morgan: It’s something I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember, a kind of self medication process. The first song I ever wrote was about losing touch with my friends when I moved to Belfast age 9 (after four years living in Donegal). It’s the most natural thing in the world to me to write when I’m alone and feeling anxious. I instinctively sit down at a piano when I hear bad news or I’ve had a hard day. I have tried to write happy songs but they never feel right, or honest.

Gemma: The creative process can actually be quite solitary in itself, as it’s easy to get caught up in your own head. I really enjoy working so closely in collaboration with someone.

And last but not least… for every interviewee on the blog we take the opportunity to pick the artists’ brains for their musical recommendations – it would be rude not to…

5. It’s not exactly easy, but can you choose 3 songs (from any time in your life) that you would reach out for to listen to if you weren’t feeling on top form?

Morgan: My favourite song ever is Joni Mitchell’s A Case of You. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and I’ve definitely sought comfort from it in the past.

Gemma: If I had to choose right now, I’d say Bon Iver’s Perth!

Another favourite of ours is Retrograde by James Blake.

Saint Sister play the We Cut Corners-curated Therapy Sessions at Dublin’s Workman’s Club tonight (Friday, Jan 8) as part of the First Fortnight Festival 2016, along with Jennifer Evans and London spoken word artist Dee Campbell. Details and tickets here