SINGING sisters The Pierces are glad they've found fame after years of hard work - because they're not sure they could have handled it when younger.

Catherine and Allison hit Oran Mor for a sold out show this Saturday, unveiling material from forthcoming fifth album Creation, which is due in September.

It's the follow-up to 2011 hit You & I, and the duo reckon success after years of graft has worked out better than becoming immediate chart stars.

"I'm not sure we'd have been prepared for success when younger," says younger sis Catherine.

"I was definitely a lot wilder and crazier back then, so I don't know how I'd have handled being successful. We lived in New York for nine years and the lifestyle there was always to go out, as there were always parties going on.

"We had lots of friends in bands and would see them have massive up and downs. Ours has been a long, steady climb."

If the group's previous albums brewed together psychedelic, folk and pop, then Creation's singles are pointing heavily in the pop direction, with Kings and Believe In Me possessing a summery, upbeat tone.

Yet Creation's process was fraught with difficulty, with half a record's worth of songs scrapped.

"We'd started working with a bigger producer, a bigger name, but the chemistry wasn't there and the tracks lacked emotion," says Catherine.

"They just weren't right, and it was actually really scary to stop that process, but it had to be done…we'd done half the songs and knew the record wasn't going right, so we didn't know what would happen -would we get dropped by the label, would the record be put off entirely or what?

"But we got back on track fairly quickly and made a record that we love."

Coming to the rescue was Christian 'Leggy' Langdon, the band's musical director when gigging, and also Catherine's boyfriend.

He took over as producer and helped steer the tunes back in the direction The Pierces wanted to go.

"It's a little grander, a little fresher," says Catherine.

"A lot of people thought the last record sounded vintage, and we wanted to do something that didn't have the same feeling.

"We don't want to make the same record over and over. We want to experiment, and as we change as people we want our sound to evolve with it."

SPEAKING of evolution, the duo feel they've changed as people as well as musicians over the past three years.

Aside for their relocation to California, they also enlisted a shaman to help guide them spiritually.

This involved the hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca, which was recently in the news after a backpacker died in Colombia after taking it.

The South American concoction is regularly used by people seeking to discover more about themselves spiritually, which was Catherine's intention.

"For me, spirituality is really about finding out who you are yourself, and stripping away everything that's at the core of your being," she says.

"You're going past the ideas you've picked up along the way and seeing what's beneath. It's diving into your soul."

The process left her with a brighter outlook on life, and a greater understanding of herself, too.

"It definitely changed me and how I look at the world," she adds.

"It changes how you react to people and how you live your life. It opened up my creativity and things seemed to flow more. I feel more that I know who I am now."

One other thing Catherine is sure about - the identity of the singer she'd love to add to The Pierces, in a perfect world.

"If I could add any singer in the world to us, it'd be Joni Mitchell. Let's get her back on the road! We both love her, she teaches you how to be emotional."

l The Pierces, Oran Mor, Saturday, Sold Out, 7pm