EMPRESS OF CHAMPAGNE + DON'T TELL ME [FREE DOWNLOAD]

This is a pleasant surprise. To start today, we have the intriguingly named Empress Of with her very first release, the sufficiently bubbly 'Champagne' and its more moody B-side, 'Don't Tell Me'. What Empress Of, the project of Brooklyn-based musician and producer Lorely Rodriguez, has created here is a lovely old school sound, drums straight from an 80s drum machine - or so it seems - busy choruses that soar with intermingling synth patterns. For a debut release it's really good, and an extremely promising start to what could be a well-received career.

The release itself, 'Champagne' is a slow-bounce two-step, fun and bristling with little guitar sounds that seem like miniature fireworks. I like the swift change in dynamic between the relatively sparse verse, with its nonchalant vocals, and the jangling, near-psychedelic busy electric sounds of the chorus. The video for this number is below, featuring Empress Of herself, eating watermelons. Fun. Oddly fitting.

But then there's the B-side to this song: 'Don't Tell Me'. It's much more sombre, with slow-dance, epic drum sounds, long synths, a touchingly sweet vocal drenched in reverb and echo, imploring to remain in blissful ignorance. A heartbreaking ballad-style song that drips with nostalgia and the power of emotion that can be conveyed by talented artists through music: Empress Of is one such example of this, displaying feeling with her electric and wholly dreamy sound.

And good news: 'Champagne' can be downloaded below FOR FREE! Holy moly, Amaterasu-ōmikami on high, what a treat! (But hurry up about it.)

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