Empress Of is the solo project of American singer-songwriter, Lorely Rodriguez.
Empress Of – whose name was inspired by a tarot card connected to fertility, mothering and strength — first entered the musical arena in 2012 after anonymously releasing a series of 1 minute long demos via YouTube, prefaced only by a solid color entitled “Colorminutes.” Shortly after she released her first official debut single “Champagne.”
“EchoBoy has always been my favorite plug in by Soundtoys. I try to use it really creatively on chopped up vocals to create new textures.”
In 2015 she released her self-produced debut album “Me” (XL Recordings/Terrible) which went on to gain critical acclaim worldwide. “Smartly and shrewdly, Empress Of provides the neatness of pop minus the reassurance.” The New York Times hailed. Applauded for being “restlessly experimental and lyrically raw” by Pitchfork who appointed the album with a Best New Music crown, meanwhile the UK’s Guardian commended the full length for its “cool, quirky future-pop.”
Use of Soundtoys in Go To Hell
“I used MicroShift on the background vocals. This has been a go to for BVs it really helps blend them in to the background and widen the vocal tracks. I also used Radiator on the main arpeggiated synth to add some warmth to an otherwise very digitized sounding plug-in. My very favorite thing to do, which I did with this track, is create feedbacks with EchoBoy on a vocal. I print that and then find interesting ways to use them transitioning in and out of sections in the song.”
