After the initial Kings of Leon-esque (!) opener of ‘Be By Your Side’, ‘House That Sailed Away’ is about recovering from a broken heart and sees Sarah take the reins, offering a more vulnerable sound than Pam’s defiance. It deals with the idea of imposter syndrome when it comes to an industry that favours the male form and the insecurity of not being able to be effortless with your movements.” The insecurities about body image and ability when it comes to being a musician that’s seeing themselves recorded and pictured, as well as commented on. ‘Hearts & Minds’: “‘Hearts & Minds’ is about experiencing the feeling of being a teenager again. It tries to convey a perpetual hopelessness of debt and striving for an ideal that can never be achieved. It’s written more from the perspective of someone looking upon the scenarios of those around them. ‘No Good Woman’: “This song is one which is very narrative based, though not in a linear way. This was one of the first songs we finished on the album as it was the quickest to become fully realized by all of us.” But also, the feeling of being about to burst and how cathartic it could be to allow yourself to let your emotions out and feel the world around you. ‘Be By Your Side’: “This song is about the mechanisms that are used to hide your vulnerabilities and carry on. Per the press releases, here’s Pam explaining the singles to date: It’s intentionally less personal simply because it was written in that shudder-inducing months-long lockdown at the start of 2021: “What can you write about when you can’t write about your interactions with other people in the world?” Pam says rhetorically. Whereas we had years to fall for ‘Gay Girls’ and ‘Brothers’, this collection came together in a matter of months last year. Leave The Light On is more refined, less obvious but big – very big. Pillow Queens haven’t made In Waiting part two, however. Though they made the most of the last two years, this time round Pam says, “We’re not going to be having our whole album release behind a computer screen.” They made it to SXSW in Austin, Texas, are currently touring their way across the US and Canada, from California to Vancouver to Boston, and release Leave the Light On on Friday. So it made sense.”Īnd so this is the year of Pillow Queens mkII. And it’s not as if we didn’t have the time to do it or the space. We love it but we’re so ready to do something different. We’re finishing off essentially the In Waiting tour now, but we’re already sick of it. We were gunning to release something else so we could get that experience again, because I know, like we toured, we did that. “We didn’t really get that experience of what a debut should be. But we’re really proud of the album, listening back to it now.” There’s an inherent regret that lead singer Pam Connolly, talking to me for a feature in the Irish Examiner in March, alludes to as well, agreeing that new album Leave The Light On is following quickly on the heels of their debut. And it’s just a really strange starting point for an album. So now the album’s being released from like, very little backing. We didn’t even do any livestream stuff or anything. And I think had we done festival season, we would have felt like we’d had an opportunity to prove ourselves, and that that hype was justified, maybe, hopefully. “This is the album that we’ve been working towards, for so long, there’s definitely a sense of pressure. Talking to Sarah Corcoran, bassist and co-vocalist, around the release of In Waiting in September, there was a sense of missing out on something. But come March 2020, SXSW was cancelled, Pillow Queens were stuck at home and if I was sad for them, I can’t imagine how they felt. They had released a string of great singles – with standout accompanying videos – and at the start of 2020 were gearing up for SXSW and releasing a long-awaited debut album. I don’t think there was a band I felt sadder for than Pillow Queens when Covid first hit and everybody’s best-laid plans were shot to pieces.
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