Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream
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CD Details
Artist: Empire of the SunEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-04-21
Music Label: Astralwerks
Product features:
- EMPIRE OF THE SUN WALKING ON A DREAM
- Standing on the Shore
- Walking on a Dream
- Half Mast
- We Are the People
- Delta Bay
- Country
- The World
- Swordfish Hotkiss Night
- Tiger by My Side
- Without You
Music reviews of Walking on a Dream
Music Review: Walking and Dreaming, but in Every Direction
Rating: 4 Stars
Empire of the Sun's Walking on a Dream release is just as airy, ridiculous, and imaginative as the names of said band and album. Rising to prominence from the Australian electro-pop scene and unlikely cameos on hip-hop mixtapes (see Wiz Khalifa's track titled "The Thrill"), Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore's brainchild manages to blend Klaxon-, JET-, and MGMT-esque sounds and influences into a compelling composition.
Walking on a Dream opens with "Standing on the Shore," a track that would be better off without its lyrical accompaniment. Airy guitar and keyboard riffs woven together through mixed meter set the tone for a calm, almost ambient listening experience. Yet the high-pitched, whiny vocals, reminiscent of many British pop groups, ground the song by distracting the listener from tracking the evolution of its pleasant melody. "Walking On a Dream," the album's title track, is full of (surprise!) airy keyboard riffs that wax nostalgic for the days of neon-loving `80s pop. Its falsetto vocals and strong hip-hop beats (juxtaposed to the airier synth sounds) remind the listener of MGMT's Oracular Spectacular tracks. What's more, instances of light, isolated synth and keyboard melodies continue the pseudo-ambient listening experience started in "Standing on the Shore."
Walking On a Dream's subsequent tracks ("Half Mast," "We Are the People," and "Delta Bay") constitute a fairly serious departure from that pseudo-ambient environment that the first two tracks had worked to construct. The high-pitched, whiny vocals move closer and closer to center stage, and the tracks take on more JET-esque rock influences, with louder guitars and even the introduction of tambourines (of all instruments). These tracks definitely blend Empire of the Sun's sound into a number of music scenes (pop, electro-pop, alternative rock, etc.), rather than highlight or distinguish it apart from (or as an innovator in) those music scenes.
The rest of Empire of the Sun's debut album has very little unifying material, as there is little connection between the tracks. While there's nothing wrong with branching out and experimenting within an album, it's just surprising how disconnected many of the tracks are from one another. "Country" is a beautiful, rambling acoustic ballad that reminds the listener of Coldplay's lighter tracks off Viva la Vida (like Strawberry Swing and Lovers in Japan); "The World" plays up the whiny vocals once again and would fit much better on The Klaxons' next album; "Swordfish Hotkiss Night" ventures into entirely uncharted territory (previously on the album) by demo-ing sample-heavy, electronic (arguably electronische) sounds; "Tiger By My Side" brings airy guitars back to the forefront, reminding listeners of A-Ha's "Take On Me," with possible DX7-synthesizer influences; and "Without You" closes out the album with a mellow (but still airy!) ballad that was definitely crafted to be the slow song at some `80s high school prom or another.
Empire of the Sun clearly tried very hard to make Walking on a Dream live in the 1980s and 2000s at the same time. In many respects, it succeeds, as tracks like Walking on a Dream and We Are the People have risen on charts in the US, UK, and Australia. The catchy, keyboard-heavy melodies also make for some easy listening. But the album's experimentation into so many different fields definitely leaves the listener a little puzzled. For its next album, Empire of the Sun should focus on the elements in "Walking On a Dream," "We Are the People," "Country," and "Tiger on My Side" to develop its identity and zero in on an appealing sound with unifying themes.
Description of Walking on a Dream
EMPIRE OF THE SUN is the new psychedelic project led by Australians Luke Steele (of The Sleepy Jackson) and Nick Littlemore (P'Nau). Exotic, gaudy, and lavish, Empire Of The Sun brings together these two unlikely collaborators from Australian pop, and so began a friendship which Luke describes as "this fireball of electricity".Walking On A Dream is a bold, visionary and brilliant album, which manages to sound exhilaratingly contemporary, audaciously forward-looking, yet also curiously archaic all at once. From Nick and Luke's collective unconscious arose a rare marriage of rock and electronica, immediacy and depth, futurism and tradition, hi-tech production and creative spontaneity, pop melody and the cinematic.
The duo are preparing to carry through on their audio-visual vision for their band, demonstrated by the video for the first single and title track, filmed in Shanghai and getting massive online attention (done renegade style, it's illegal to film there and at one point they nearly got arrested).
Given the unusual track records of both the band's constituent members - not to mention the jaw-dropping magnificence of their debut album together - it's safe to say, in the words of NME... "world domination quite literally awaits".
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