Australia has been dominating the electro-pop world for the past few years thanks to an array of catchy would-be conventional pop songs made fresh by their retro sound.
Australian electro-pop group Empire of the Sun's Luke Steele (of The Sleepy Jackson fame) and Nick Littlemore (from lightweight dance group Pnau) have contributed something of an unstoppable golem with their debut album Walking on a Dream. Eschewing the harsher bite of their ultra-popular peers The Presets (comparisons irresistibly drawn by their shared nationality, no doubt), Empire of the Sun have made a soft-sounding but not uninteresting pop record of more than a little worth.Although the followup single, "We Are the People," is a bit of a misleading disappointment as contrasted with the rest of the album, the titular lead single "Walking on a Dream" is more indicative of the LP as a whole. There are obvious parallels to recent smash-hits by MGMT with their use of pop structure and almost saccharine synthesizers in order to set themselves apart, yet Empire of the Sun is unwilling to stop there. They use this rather populist approach to illuminate their eccentricity, their unusual commitment to sonic excellence. The most fascinating element of Empire of the Sun's debut album is the abundance of funk. Rather than the usually rigid 4/4 approach of the average dance hit, Empire of the Sun plays with the mechanics of the structure in order to come off as much more free and elusive.
This is music which resists the urge to make you just bob your head along, instead attempting to engage the listener in the artistry. The first track to really take off on the progressive nature of their musical ability is "Half Mast," combining a rather odd take on the straightforward beat of many a dance track with the excessively bizarre vocal stylings of Steele, whose nasal delivery straddles the line between utterly entertaining and absolutely obnoxious.
Thankfully, Walking on a Dream makes a habit out of being both catchy and amusing, rather than becoming irritatingly of-the-moment. Take the final song on the album, the beautifully evocative "Without You," which plays like an electro ballad on downers mixed with Gary Numan's more soulful work, something which illustrates the conventions and trappings of most electronic music without falling victim to them.
That's the difference between Empire of the Sun and the standard fare being perpetrated by their contemporaries; both know their musical influences back to front, while Empire of the Sun has the courage to subvert them.
Article comments
1 - Love empire of the sun!!!
"We are the People" is NOT a dissapointment! It's MY favorite song..everyone has their own opinion.