From Nell Alk in New York
Australian electro-ridic duo Empire of the Sun isn’t named after the J.G. Ballard novel. The outfit is a force unto itself, inspired, I’d say, more by New York’s poster child for visually vivid production, Fischerspooner than by literary endeavours. Australians Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore stop at nothing to take outlandish to the extreme: hence the re-naming of their musical style and presentation aesthetic as electro-ridic.
Going by their performance at Manhattan’s Terminal 5 a few weeks ago, “ridic” hardly covers it. The second of a two-show stop on Manhattan, as part of the Walking on a Dream Tour (so named after their debut album and best song), the experience was memorable thanks to their dreamy psychedelic tunes, their stellar sound, and their envelope-pushing costume and dance.
Empire of the Sun’s success speaks for itself: global sales of Walking On A Dream have exceeded 300,000. On top of this, over 570,000 single Empire Of The Sun tracks have been officially downloaded worldwide, & the pair has won 7 ARIA Awards in Australia, including Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group and Best Pop Release. And, as testament to their street cred, Steele appeared on Jay-Z’s latest album, The Blueprint 3.
That success gives them the right to take themselves seriously, but there’s definitely something silly about a grown man wearing an oversized clock around his neck whilst wheeling himself around the stage in a wheelchair.
From Steele’s blue acoustic guitar to his sunburst-inspired crown, through to the guitarist’s Hammer-pants and the synchronized dancers’ impressively flexible bodies, this performance, a cross between space odyssey and deep sea journey (courtesy of the fantastic digital imagery backdrop) was unmissable — and extraordinary.
Throughout the set leading man Luke Steele’s surreal dreams and wild imagination were transformed into pitch-perfect pop reality. (Talk about taking the record 3D.) As a friend said that night, “This is what Lady Gaga wishes she was.”
If this is what they have achieved in the four years since they formed Empire of the Sun, I can’t wait to see what they do in the next four.
More photos here
{ 1 trackback }
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
They are ridic, I agree. You have great taste in tunes LLG!
hi thanx blog
Empire Of The Sun kills this song and its amazing because of its personal views, post modernism views and its poetic devices. This song is influenced by more 60’s rock and bands like the Beatles and Bob Dylan. This is more of an alternative rock type of music. This song is portraying the relationship between two people and how they look at life.
Empire Of The Sun shows a hyperbole in the first four lines by saying “walking on a dream/ how can I explain/ talking to myself/ will I see again” (1−4) It shows the exaggeration by saying he is in a dream and asking himself if he will see his lover again. In lines (13−14) it shows an elegiac tone. It shows this when it says “thought i’d never see/ the love you found in me” (13−14) It shows an elegiac tone because of the fact he used to mourn over the fact she didn’t see his love. They also show a hortatory message when in says “don’t stop just keep going on/ I’m your shoulder, lean upon/ so come on deliver from inside/ all we got is tonight that is right till first light” (31−34)
Throughout the entire song it is showing our personal views and the way that we can look at love. It shows that we can use our imagination and that we need to keep going through life. It shows us how to find the thrills in the ordinary and that we never should give up and we always need to keep pushing on to find the thrills of our life.
This song is a very post modernism way of looking at things. When it says “we are always running for the thrill of it/ always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it/ on and on an on we walk calling out, out again/ never looking down I’m just in awe in whats in front of me” (5−8) this is saying that we need to search for the things in our life that bring us awe and beauty and when we find them we need to keep it on our sights and not let go of it.