Pillow Queens - 'Like A Lesson'
Irish quartet release new single from their upcoming album, ‘Name Your Sorrow'.
If you’re a fan of Irish music, you’ve surely come across Pillow Queens. It can be either because you heard them on BBC 1 or because you saw them live around UK, Europe, US, or playing “Hearts & Minds” at James Corden’s “Late Late Show”.
The quartet just released “Like a Lesson”, from their upcoming album “Name Your Sorrow”, to be released in April.
Like most of Pillow Queens’ tracks, the lyrics are deep and talk about love _or the fear of it. “Like a Lesson” explores the thin line between being scared and desiring someone. The chorus “I don’t wanna ruin my life/But I wanna go home with you” in Pamela Connolly’s voice is going to stick in your head.
The band is formed by Connolly (lead singer, bassist and guitarist), Sarah Corcoran (guitar, bass and vocal), Cathy McGuinness (vocal and guitar) and Rachel Lyons (drum and guitar). They define the track as "the notion of finding safety and comfort in the presence of love of limerence is emphasized, contrasting with the paralyzing fear of making mistakes or ruining your life or someone else’s. It delves into the feeling of being a lesson for someone, a side character in someone else’s story".
Pillow Queens started their musical career back in 2016 and released their first album, “In Waiting” in 2020. After signing with Canada’s Royal Mountain Records, they toured around the UK, Europe and North America when releasing “Leave the Light On” (2022).
It could be that making an album would get easier with the time, experience and the fact that they are currently one of the main names in the Irish music scene. But it was not the case. McGuinness explains that they would work every day, from 9 to 5, in a windowless Dublin room to just “play, swap instruments and experiment”. So they could work on “Name Your Sorrow”, they decided to do a rural retreat in County Clare. “We got on this very non-verbal kind of wavelength, where you just kind of picked up your instruments. It was very instinctive and the most communal experience we’d ever had of working.”
The dedication was worth it, and it is clear in the guitar riffs and strong drum beats from “Like a Lesson”. "It began as a song we felt had a strong country music influence and morphed into something that referenced a wide range of our musical tastes. It’s the 90s soft rock song on the album”, they explain.
The Pillow Queens have a full schedule for the summer, supporting Snow Patrol and also touring around the UK and Ireland, where they will be playing their biggest show ever at The Iveagh Gardens.
Words by Gabriela Simionato
