Pillow Queens – Name Your Sorrow
Pillow Queens are still pining after lost loves, but heavy, howling instrumentals and post-production effects make Name Your Sorrow their most emphatic plea so far
Dublin's Pillow Queens swapped the scratchy guitar effects and shout-along vocals of pandemic baby In Waiting for something more sombre on 2022's Leave the Light On. Their latest, Name Your Sorrow, strikes the sweet spot between polished and punk. Opener February 8th blends droning dissolve with ethereal lyrics; the bluesy bridges of Suffer crackle and distort, leading to sparkling choruses. Blew Up the World’s instrumentals are anthemic, on Gone they are needling and dark, on One Night, hearty and pining.
As usual, members Sarah Corcoran and Pamela Connolly alternate lead vocals, but Name Your Sorrow sees band-wide experimentation, instrument swapping, and post-production revision, resulting in a colourful, varied record. The lyrical content – longing, queerness, and reconciliation – are quintessential PQ: 'I don’t wanna ruin my life but I wanna go home with you' (Like a Lesson), and 'I could feel my body beating, hated it all my life / I don’t wanna go home this weekend, I think I’m worth the time' (Notes On Worth), two examples.
Pillow Queens are both eager to experiment, and open to embracing the best of their earlier rhetoric. Vulnerability mixed with hope helps Name Your Sorrow reign supreme out of their three-part discography.
Listen to: One Night, Suffer