★★★★★
What would happen if the sounds of Daft Punk, Tiesto and New Order all collided? Empire of the Sun provides a well-crafted, pleasing answer to that question. Coming off the million-selling Walking on a Dream, the expectations are definitely high for this album, and Steele + Littlemore go out of their way to exceed them and then some...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-07-25
★★★★★
Admit it: you're glad they're back. Returning with the same 'Walking...' production team of Peter Mayes and Donnie Sloan, Luke and Nick have sensibly set the electronic pop laser to stun. The opening triple salvo certainly sets things up nicely: twinkling opener 'Lux' wouldn't sound out of place on a Tim Burton soundtrack, while the second track, 'DNA', sounds like the band at their best. Over an acoustic guitar, "back in 79, there were no rules to feel sublime," trills Luke...
- www.mixmag.net
2013-07-09
★★★★★
Successful Eighties-zonked dance bands like Passion Pit and even Foster the People make their airy glitz stick by impacting it with ambivalence. This Aussie duo go for a simpler, sucrose-overdose approach on their second album: escapist New Wave disco full of trance-y gloss and hooky know-how on par with Taco, if not the Buggles. (Luke Steele was in the indie-pop band the Sleepy Jackson, and Nick Littlemore was in the electro act Pnau.) "Dream time/It's our special place," they sing on "DNA...
- www.rollingstone.com
2013-07-02
★★★★★
If you were among the million-plus individuals who (legally) purchased Empire of the Sun's debut album, Walking On a Dream, you will not be disappointed with its follow-up, Ice On the Dune. The second lovechild of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore shares its predecessor's compelling cinematic, sci-fi/fantasy personality both aurally and visually...
- www.undertheradarmag.com
2013-07-02
★★★★★
The unlikely pairing of Luke Steele (of sublime psychedelicists the Sleepy Jackson) and Nick Littlemore (one half of Elton John's dance proteges, Pnau) was responsible for one of the freshest-sounding albums of 2008. The follow-up takes that record's template - naggingly catchy pop given a euphoric dance twist - and marries it to an even stronger set of songs...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2013-06-23
★★★★★
Kevin Smith has a pretty great Superman story. It's a tale of Hollywood incompetence and the telling is even better than the details, proof positive that Smith's true strengths lie behind a microphone and not a camera. One such detail, ultimately lost to the overall arc, is both amusing and depressing as Smith recalls that he was offered the opportunity, nay the honour, of directing Beetlejuice 2: Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian...
- www.state.ie
2013-06-25
★★★★★
When Empire of the Sun emerged in 2008, they were fascinating, even at a glance: Wearing costumes that evoked community-theater Flash Gordon, or perhaps the leaping wing-people from the NES version of Contra, they made cheery, brightly pumping synth music that suggested similar pop-culture carbon dating...
- pitchfork.com
2013-06-21
★★★★★
The year 2013 is basically the party that the Aussie glam-wizards of Empire of the Sun traveled light years to DJ: David Bowie released his first album in 10 years, Pet Shop Boys are going on tour, and Australia was empirically named the "happiest place on earth ." But now that they're back, it seems all they want to do is escape...
- consequenceofsound.net
2013-06-21
★★★★★
Simple pleasures, dressed up ... Empire of the Sun's Luke Steele. Photograph: Don Arnold/WireImage
You could never accuse Empire of the Sun of underselling themselves. The second album by Luke Steele, former frontman of eclectic, faintly exhausting Perth rock band the Sleepy Jackson, and Nick Littlemore - one half of Sydney's Elton John-endorsed electronic duo Pnau - arrives wrapped in a sleeve featuring Steele in a vast blue headdress, cape billowing out behind him...
- www.theguardian.com
2013-07-30