Empress - Homeward Sounds EP
(Pehr)
The UK's Empress, features members who were originally in a band called Boyracer, and two of its members, at one time, played in the wonderful, UK band, Hood. But, while the band's lineage is impressive, to their credit, it isn't nearly as impressive as the simple, elegant, and beautiful songs the band has created.
While Empress use a standard line up of piano, female vocals, picked guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, the end result is anything by ordinary or plain. The songs on the Homeward Sounds EP are stripped down to fragile simplicity and layered with soothing keyboard/guitar washes of sound (or I guess what might actually be stringed instruments), and found sound, creating 6 breathtaking songs filled with longing, genuine sadness, and hope.
Homeward Sounds is definitely for Low and Ida fans, but Empress are by no means derivative of that sound, they have found and carved out their own niche within said genre. This is the perfect record to sleep to, listen to on a rainy day, or whenever you are feeling introspective.
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