Empire of the
Sun - Walking on a Dream (2008)
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Empire of
the Sun
Tracks
1. Standing On The Shore
2. Walking On A Dream
3. Half Mast
4. We Are The People
5. Delta Bay
6. Country
7. The World
8. Swordfish Hotkiss Night
9. Tiger By My Side
10. Without You
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All those sci-fi posters around town got me
wondering, who the hell are these guys?
Hey isn't that Luke Steele?
Empire of the Sun, PNAU's Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele from
The Sleepy Jackson's side project is a pleasant surprise. It is a
collaboration that has been a long time coming.
The boys seamlessly combine Steele's unique vocals and Sleepy Jackson's
sense of groove with PNAU's ever danceable beats.
Walking
on a Dream was an incredible choice for first single, as
it fills the room with psychedelia and urges the listener to find a
field and dance around, arms flailing in the air .
It is easily the most danceable track but also has a refreshing lazy
Sunday feel about it, which I assume will ensure it gets excessive
airplay during the summer (hopefully not an overload because there is
nothing worse than getting sick of a genuinely good song).
The obvious comparison is MGMT, both
channel a psychedelic sound and image (most prominently through their
music videos) and create incredibly infectious electronic tracks.
That said, while MGMT is filled with a little more excitement and
complexity, Empire of the Sun is a little more laid back in their
approach.
Strong bass, and often lazy vocals, keep it a step back from your
typical dance tunes.
Standing
on the Shore and Half
Mast bookend the debut single and all three tracks are
obvious standouts.
The second single We
Are The People is a little slow until you get to the
chorus, Littlemore jumps on in and you think to yourself 'damn these
guys are good'.
The only downfall of "Walking In The Sun" as a debut album is that it
is a little unbalanced - at ten tracks it seems the first four are
complete stand outs while the remaining six leave you just a little
disappointed.
While all the songs on the album are good, only the first four strike
you as being truly great. Perhaps frontloading the album was a
mistake - or is it simply a sign of the times when a band assumes it's
listeners on have an attention span of 20 minutes?
Hopefully Empire of the Sun's debut will avoid becoming an album of
'just four singles' because Steele and Littlemore are worth more than
that.
RATING:
2.5 out of 5
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