Pillow Queens share video for 'Hearts & Minds', taken from new album Leave The Light On

Pillow Queens have shared the second single from forthcoming album Leave The Light On, a track called 'Hearts & Minds' that focuses on the discomfort of being perceived.

Singer/guitarist Pamela Connolly describes the new single as capturing the reoccurrence of teenage insecurities occasioned by the band's rise to prominence and the imposter syndrome she experienced as a result.

"'Hearts & Minds' is about experiencing the feeling of being a teenager again," explains Connolly. "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. 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."

“Well I’m not fixin to move/I’m atrophied from winning over all these hearts and minds,” sings Connolly in her pristine, raw voice.

Last month, the Dubliners announced their sophomore album Leave The Light On, their first release on Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Alvvays, US Girls), which is due out on April 1st. The band have been quietly building momentum on their side of the Atlantic since the release of their 2017 debut EP Calm Girls, selling out shows in their native Ireland, supporting artists like IDLES, Pussy Riot and Future Islands.

They earned extensive support in the UK before they independently released their stunning, critically acclaimed 2020 LP In Waiting. The album was a major breakthrough for the band, earning them an Irish Choice Album of The Year nomination, and a US television appearance on the Late Late Show with James Corden.

In support of the album, the band will be playing their first ever US dates that will kick off next month at SXSW.

To make Leave the Light On, the band looked towards introspection. It’s a lonely record, evoking feelings of late night drives on back roads where you digest the day and quietly change lanes. On the band’s first record with Royal Mountain, loneliness is a warm space to reflect, to meditate. To quote the writer Maggie Nelson in her experimental work of auto-theory Bluets: “When I was alive, I aimed to be a student not of longing but of light.”

"Leave the Light On is a record not of longing but of light. It glows in tungsten. It is a record of queer dream blues," the press release reads.

Leave the Light On comes at a time where things are rapidly accelerating for the band, which consists of Pamela Connolly, Sarah Corcoran, Rachel Lyons, and Cathy McGuinness. After the success of In Waiting, music became a full time occupation for the band.

Recorded in the Spring of 2021, the band wrote their second album over the course of three months, and then went into the studio to work with producer Tommy McLaughlin, who the band worked with on In Waiting.

Pre order Leave the Light On here.

Revisit Pillow Queens' 2020 interview with Hot Press here.

Check out the new video for 'Hearts & Minds' below:

Leave the Light On Tracklist

1. Be By Your Side
2. The Wedding Band
3. Hearts & Minds
4. House That Sailed Away
5. Delivered
6. Well Kept Wife
7. No Good Woman
8. Historian
9. My Body Moves
10. Try Try Try

Tour Dates

March 9th - Kilkenny, Ireland @ Set Theatre (Sold out)
March 10th - Galway, Ireland @ Roisin Dubh (Sold out)
March 11th - Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory (Sold out)
March 12th - Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory (Sold out)

March 14th – 19th SXSW

March 23rd – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
March 24th – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
March 25th – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel SF
March 27th – Seattle, WA @ Clock-out Lounge
March 29th – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall
March 30th – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
April 1st – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
April 2nd – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
April 4th – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Jr.
April 6th – Saint Paul, MN @ Turf Club
April 7th – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
April 9th – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
April 11th – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
April 12th – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
April 14th – New York, NY @ The Mercury Lounge
April 15th – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall

May 3rd - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
May 5th - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
May 6th - Glasgow, Scotland @ Stereo
May 7th - Newcastle, UK @ Cluny
May 10th - Brighton, UK @ Chalk
May 11th - London, UK @ Scala
May 12th - Birmingham, UK @ The Castle and Falcon
May 13th - Bristol, UK @ Thekla
June 12th Berlin, Germany @ Tempelhof Festival
July 2nd - Gdynia, Poland @ Open’er Festival

October 1st - Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar St.
October 2nd - Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar St.
October 7th - Limerick, Ireland @ Dolan’s
October 8th - Cork, Ireland @ Cyprus Avenue
October 14th - Belfast, Ireland @ The Empire
October 15th - Galway, Ireland @ The Roisin Dubh
October 16th - Galway, Ireland @ The Roisin Dubh
October 20th - Kilkenny, Ireland @ The Set Theatre