Pillow Queens to curate residency in New York's Irish Arts Center

Dublin indie quartet Pillow Queens are set to curate a week-long residency at New York's prestigious Irish Arts Center.

The US performances will take place from September 13th, and will see panel discussions, live tunes, a film screening of You Are Not My Mother, special guests Sinéad Gleeson and Sarah Corcoran, plus lots more.

"The lovely folks at @irishartscenter in New York have been kind enough to offer us a residency in a few weeks and we’ve absolutely jumped at the opportunity," Pillow Queens announced on Instagram last night.

"Join us in NYC from September 13th for a whole load of wonderful events including film screenings, panel discussions and live music from us and pals. We’re very excited to be back in the large apple."

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Earlier this year, the band released their sophomore full-length outing, Leave The Light On. The album followed 2020's acclaimed debut, In Waiting.

It marked their first full-length release since signing to Canadian label Royal Mountain Records, whose alumni include the likes of Alvvays, Mac DeMarco, U.S. Girls and Orville Peck. Fuelled by the ecstatic reception to their independently-released, Choice Music Prize-nominated debut album in 2020 – which has since clocked up millions of Spotify streams – the band are hitting an international breakthrough.

Signing to Royal Mountain Records last year allowed them to focus primarily on their artistry.

“For the majority of Pillow Queens’ existence, we’ve been constantly putting out our own stuff,” Pamela explained to Hot Press at the time. “It’s a great thing to do, and to know how to do it. But being a band – and being creative while also doing a lot of admin – it’s going to take away from something. So it’s great to have them to lighten that load, and be there as a support.

“Putting out In Waiting, on our own, was very difficult,” she continues. “We’re glad that we were able to do it, because it kept us busy when we weren’t able to make music together. But trying to figure out how we were going to pay for it, and trying to figure out all these immense details, was really hard. It takes a toll, and it takes away from what you’re here to do – which is make music, and perform for people.”

Pillow Queens also embarked on their first headline tour of North America in Spring 2022, kicking off proceedings with an appearance at SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

Listen to Leave The Light On below and revisit our March interview with the four-piece here.