“I’ve been delivered,” Pillow Queens sing on their second album, Leave the Light On. At first listen, the reverential croons – over hushed percussion and moody thrums of bass – sound like a declaration of religious faith. But the Dublin-based quartet aren’t so literal as that.
Formed in 2016, the indie-rock band – co-lead vocalists/bassists Pamela Connolly and Sarah Corcoran, drummer Rachel Lyons and guitarist Cathy McGuinness – make a habit of intertwining Ireland’s deep-rooted Catholic beliefs with their experiences as four queer women. Early songs such as “Holy Show”, from their debut album In Waiting, are pulse-quickening vignettes of an intimate relationship: “I’m still a baby/ If you’re still waiting outside/ I’ve got your eyes and cheeks in front of me/ Filling the space between my thighs.” On recent single “Liffey” – which they performed on The Late Late Show with James Corden – the drone of an organ is drowned out by a maelstrom of guitars and thundering drums, as Connolly and Corcoran sing: “Oh, spread me over the Liffey/ And sing me off to sleep/ I wanna take you with me/ To wash and dry your feet.”
