4.0

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prideful Irish indie-rock noise enters their third dance, Name Your Sorrow.

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Ever since their tenure with In Waiting, the all-female tour-de-force Irish quartet of Pillow Queens have always been straddling the line with durable folk and harmonious indie-rock. At the heart of it all, is a zealous outpouring of queer love. Now – comes their next story. Keeping with the status quo of prior works, Name Your Sorrow has the hall-markings of all the Irish folk sentiments before them: twangy guitar strings, haunting dissonance, angelic harmonies and an unshakeable punch.

And does it pack a punch. Dripped in raw intensity, the third is an album one of intensity, loneliness and love. If the longing urgency aren’t prevalent in the driving instrumentals, then you can most certainly hear it McGuinness’s vocals.

Like many bands thankfully, they don’t just box themselves in the compounds of either folk or indie. Like A Lesson – which is soon becoming the bands’ favourite to play live – is the ’90s soft rock song on the album, as it’s guitar-driven swells draw contrast to the likes of REM and Squeeze. It charms its way around vulnerable vocals, as it portrays a side character in someone else’s story. Elsewhere, Gone is a torturous brooding into a soon-to-be demolished relationship, “I’m gone, I’m someone else’s sun…”

Another cold and aching statement is Suffer – a chugging of the bass sees you in the depths before the glitzy ka-noodlings bring you out within the chorus; almost like McGuinness has comes to the terms with the madness of it all – “I hope you’re happy / I hope you’re light.”

Equally punchy, equally ethereal with searing vocal motifs, Heavy Pour is your typical lovey-dovey sweetness in a song. But there’s a remarkable hesitance to it that has you convey doubts on it all. The band also touches on gender potency with the line, “I want more, but I’m not man enough.” News flash – all genders can be courageous.

Written from the confines of quiet Irish countryside, the band draw inspiration from both poets* and artists in number three.

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This June, Pillow Queens will perform live across the UK and will support Snow Patrol in Limerick, IR on July 12 ahead of their biggest show to date on July 13 at Dublin, Ireland’s Iveagh Gardens.

*Pillow Queens credit Irish poet Eavan Bolan, English poet John Keats, and British writer C.S. Lewis among their literary inspirations during the writing process. Musically, influences range from Vampire Weekend to Barbara Streisand to Frank Ocean, Tool and Lana Del Rey.