Empress Of Readies New Album Dream House

“Wild Storm” leads the LP, which reckons with the fallout from the Altadena fires that destroyed the artist’s home

June 26, 2026

Empress Of has announced new album Dream House, the follow-up to 2024’s For Your Consideration. Out Sept 18 via Giant Music, the record reflects on life after the Altadena fires that destroyed Lorely Rodriguez’s home—a topic explored on the single “Wild Storm,” released today with a Mitch deQuilettes-directed video shot in the aftermath. Rodriguez will celebrate the album release with a show at New York’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 30. Check out the video, artwork, and tracklist—which includes Cecile Believe, who collaborated across the album, along with one feature from Blood Orange—below.

“Wild Storm” was actually written years ago, a press release notes, but rediscovered by Rodriguez as she processed the devastation of the fires. Of the album, she said, “One afternoon I made a little voice memo while playing a piano mumbling the phrase, ‘I wanna build a dream for you.’ That’s when this whole thing kind of started. Like a little spark. Someone said a phoenix isn’t born, it's remembered and in making this album I remembered why I make music.”

Jazz Monroe is a music and culture writer based in London. His work also appears in The Guardian, The Independent, and elsewhere. ... Read More