Empire of the Sun
Words by Jonathan Fernando
He might be a daft tart with stupid glasses and an even stupider voice, but we should really be thankful to Calvin Harris. Not for making Italo-disco cool again with Dizzy collaboration Dance Wiv Me, but for spawning the synth revolution. Of course, the real adulation should go to the glorious MGMT, who made a record both experimental and catchy; oddly psychedelic but also easily digestible in all its pop goodness. So what next then? Of course, we’ve had the pretenders and the imitators, the wannabes and the try-hards. But now, it seems, the next chapter of the synth-pop fable is about to be written, by Australian duo, Empire of the Sun.
With their faces masked by paint and their figures covered in psychedelic, glam rock attire, they look like a 21st century Ziggy Stardust. And like the great Mr. Bowie’s alter-ego, the group visually personify the other-worldly sound of their music. “We’re so visual,” according to Luke Steele, 50% of EOTS. “We want to make something that as a child you see and you just love because it’s so colourful and it’s got imagination”.
Having already gained some steam and popularity down under, they had largely gone unnoticed on British soil until recently, when they clocked in at a highly respectable fourth on the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2009’ poll. But unlike previous buzz-bands who have proved themselves to be all style, no substance, (yeah, you, Duffy) there’s a lot more to EOTS than just a record label hype-machine. Just one listen to their single release, ‘Walking On A Dream’, will bury any doubts as to the level of deserved success the group will inevitably taste in the near future. Littlemore produces a track that delivers an upbeat synth sound that pays dutiful homage to synthsters such as Gary Numan and Duran Duran, whilst Steele drapes his dreamy, ethereal chorus over the top.
With more electro-driven music coming out of Australia in the past couple of years than you’d care to shake a boomerang at (Cut/Copy, The Presets etc) EOTS are certainly in good company. So what sets them apart from their beer-swigging BBQ-loving compatriots? A healthy dose of ambition for a start: “We want to start something a bit bigger than what bands have been doing for the past 20 years. We want to bring entertainment and colour and positivity and melody back into it,” Littlemore gushes. And in these gloomy times, what’s wrong with a bit of colour and positivity? Nothing. Nothing at all.
http://www.myspace.com/empireofthesun
Posted Fri, March 27, 2009