Today Empress Of (a.k.a. Lorely Rodriquez) has announced the release of her debut album titled Me, released on 11th September on Terrible Records. Produced, recorded and engineered entirely by Lorely over the course of 2014, the ten-track album plays out like diary entries; musing on the personal, the political, and everything that falls in-between.
Today a new track titled “Kitty Kat” is available to stream via lyric video containing postcards of photos taken during the recording session for Me in Valle de Bravo and Montreal. The song was inspired by her experiences of being cat called around Valle de Bravo, Mexico City, while on a solo 5-week writing retreat, and the emotions evoked by the act.
Listen to “Kitty Kat” here:
In support of Me, Empress Of will be playing a short run of shows in London inspired by a similar week of shows in NYC, that saw her joined by a unique mix of musicians including Ezra Koenig, Dev Hynes and Terrible Records label mate Le1f. She’ll also be heading out on the road with Purity Ring, playing a full run of shows across UK and Europe. Australasian touring plans are still under wraps for the moment.
About Me
The roots of Me start in an empty practice space in Brooklyn, where Lorely spent many nights dancing alone next to a little spinning silver disco ball. “After touring the EP, I realized I wanted to make music that was fun to perform live,” she says. But ultimately the city put her in a less-than-inspired headspace. Her intuitive search for a more introspective and isolated writing experience led her to unexpectedly life-changing and mind-bending solo trip to Valle de Bravo, Mexico. The isolation sent her deep inside her head, to pull out everything she wanted to pour into Me. “Every lyric on the record, I could tell you exactly what I was doing when I wrote it,” Lorely explains, “I wanted to write songs that gave me this feeling of reliving moments in my life.”
On tracks, which you can preview now, “Kitty Kat” and “Water Water,” Lorely sings candidly on street harassment and water scarcity, but mostly Lorely’s lyrics are more introspective; songs of broken relationships, new ones starting, and ultimately, self-reliance. “I just need myself, need myself, to love myself, to love myself,” which she sings on another album track “Need Myself”. If clarity is what she seeks, Lorely has found it in Me: her voice upfront, every word audible and strong. Her singular voice is the centerpiece of Me, her first full-formed vision of an album, following her previously shorter and more abstract releases as Empress Of (2012’s Colorminutes, 2013’s Systems EP).
EMPRESS OF – ME
CD, EP & DL
Release September 11th 2015
on Terrible Records
via Rhythmethod / The Label
Empress Of Me tracklist:
- Everything Is You
- Water Water
- Standard
- How Do You Do It
- To Get By
- Kitty Kat
- Need Myself
- Make Up
- Threat
- Icon
Links:
