It features contributions from music royalty as impressive as Lindsey Buckingham (who you might know from his Fleetwood Mac days). It also features the impressive musical experience of members from David Bowie’s Blackstar band: pianist Henry Hey and bassist Tim Lefebvre.
Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore formed Empire of the Sun back in 2007 in Sydney, Australia and released their first album, Walking on a Dream, in October 2008. This album has since reached double platinum status in Australia. They worked first as simple collaborators, helping each other with their respective projects. Littlemore helped Steele with songs that appeared on his band The Sleepy Jackson’s debut album, Lovers, and Steele also collaborated to Littlemore’s bands, Pnau and Teenager.
The band waited five years to release their second album and then waited another three years to release a third. The single “Walking on a Dream,” which won Single of the Year at the 2009 Grammys, was used in a Honda commercial, and viewers could not stop Shazaming it. That commercial became the most Shazamed commercial of the year and Empire of the Sunskyrocketed back into the spotlight.
This dance/electric rock band’s name comes from their vast amount of traveling, particularly to places where the sun has historically been worshipped, although some claim the name comes from J. G. Ballard’s 1984 novel of the same name.
When performing, the band wears elaborate headdresses and uses props onstage to give their fans an unforgettable visual experience. “Walking on a Dream” was originally intended to be a studio-only project, but when their success starting to explode, Empire of the Sun could not turn down an international release and promotional tour throughout Europe and North America in 2009.
When they returned to Australia later in the year, they made their live debut at Parklife Festival in September. Eventually, their North American debut was premiered at Lollapalooza Music Festival. After a second album and a few quiet years, their song was placed in a Honda Civic commercial and they again topped the charts with their eight year-old song. “Walking on a Dream” hit number three on Billboard’s alternative music chart and hit number forty on the Mainstream Top 40 chart.
Empire of the Sun announced their third album Two Vines in August of this year and released the first single off of the album, “High and Low,” on Aug. 24. Listeners are falling back in love with the band because of the amazing tracks on the new album. Fun Fact: The album was recorded in Honolulu, Hawaii at Avex Studios!
Unfortunately, Empire of the Sun will not be in Baltimore, or even on the east coast, anytime soon, but if you are heading out west for any reason, catch them in Colorado, Utah, Washington and California in December. It is definitely a good way to spend a long weekend. Or even better, if you are willing, take an extended vacation and fly all the way to Australia for their two appearances at FOMO Festival. It is worth the trip.
You can sign up for updates on when they will be in a venue near you on their website (empireofthesun.com). Listen to the band’s music on Spotify and follow them on Facebook (@empireofthesun) and Twitter (@EmpireOfTheSun) for daily updates.
