Empress Of – For Your Consideration
On Empress Of’s addictive fourth full-length album, we find Lorely Rodriguez both commanding and vulnerable
Like a human metronome, rhythmic heavy breathing counts in the first track of For Your Consideration, setting the irresistible tempo of Empress Of’s commanding and addictive fourth LP. These ASMR-like touches crop up throughout the record, giving a sense that the music is a living, breathing organism – Lorely Rodriguez’s most compelling creation yet.
As executive producer on For Your Consideration, Rodriguez was inspired by vocal music to use elements of her voice and breath to create some of the beats and basslines that make up its dense soundscapes. Rodriguez’s voice, flitting between lyrics in English and Spanish, exudes confidence but is, at times, unexpectedly vulnerable.
The album’s storytelling is absorbing, too: the title track was written on the day Rodriguez had her heart broken by a Hollywood director, leading her to reflect more widely on power dynamics and the more degrading aspects of both relationships and of existing in the entertainment industry.
For Your Consideration finds Rodriguez collaborating with other female artists, including Rina Sawayama and MUNA. Featuring the latter, the record’s closer is a pulsing ballad made expansive by synths and hypnotic voices: an appropriate end to Rodriquez’s most cohesive and ambitious work to date.
Listen to: Lorelei, For Your Consideration, What’s Love (ft. MUNA)