When I first heard the single “Walking On A Dream” by Empire Of The Sun, I was sucked in immediately. It had all the ingredients of songs I love: a soft, dream like synth melody; a solid, yet heartfelt drum beat; airy, nostalgic vocals; vaguely romantic lyrics. The song is amazing, there is nothing else to say about it. 
Empire Of The Sun is an Australian electronic duo consisting of Luke Steele from The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore from Pnau. The band gets it moniker from the book of the same name by J.G. Ballard, and Walking On A Dream is their debut album.
The sound, to be succinct, is like that of MGMT, mixing psychedelic glam pop with electronic beats. “Walking On A Dream” is the centerpiece of the record and all the other songs gather around it, eagerly extracting its framework of atmospheric synths, falsettos and sunny, shimmering pop. The album is stronger in the front, with the same mix of catchy hooks and power synths, while the latter part falls into an arena of ambient filler music.
As described, “Walking On A Dream” is the standout track. The unique part of the song is when the vocals break the chorus/verse structure and the sentiment pours out with the melody, “Don’t stop just keep going on. / I am your shoulder, lean upon, / So come on deliver from inside. / All we got is tonight that is right till first light.” It’s an affectionate song, indirectly describing how fun and miraculous it feels to fall in love with someone you’ve been with for a while as you two become closer and closer.
Another standout is “Half Mast,” which sticks to the structure of mid-tempo, airy, drum machine fueled shiners. It’s also an exemplary showing of Luke Steele’s strange, nasally vocals that only add to the diversity of sounds. The ballad “Without You,” John Hughes may have used at the end of one of his high school movies. “Country” is an epic instrumental that can only be described as electronic folk with a sci-fi edge. If Yanni was an 80s electro artist, this is what his albums would’ve sounded like.
Overall, Walking On A Dream is an 80s fun filled debut with some solid tracks. The formula of falsettos and mid-tempo, soft padded synths works as a cohesive glue for the album.
And as always, I love to mention album artwork if I find it artistically interesting, aesthetically pleasing, or having a captivating story behind it. As you can see the cover is an epic fantasy/sci-fi creation. According to the band, the iconic posters of Star Wars and Indiana Jones inspired the cover. The music on the album could very well be the soundtrack to such a fantasy film.
“Walking On A Dream†was released on October 4th by EMI.
Tracklisting:
01. Standing On the Shore
02. Waling On A Dream
03. Half Mast
04. We Are The People
05. Delta Bay
06. Country
07. The World
08. Swordfish Hotkiss Night
09. Tiger By My Side
10. Without You
11. Breakdown (iTunes Bonus Track)
Empire of the Sun: website | myspace
Written by: Ali Hussain
