Album Review: Empire of the Sun – Ice on the Dune
After five years, Australian duo Empire of the Sun ignite their second album, Ice on the Dune, with the orchestral ‘Lux’. Precisely one minute and twenty-six seconds of Ancient Egyptian melodic mantras, snake-charming refrains and epic drum rolls build anticipation for a record we almost gave up waiting for. This element of mysticism and fantasy is not only apparent with the album’s cover art, but also the duo’s overall approach to their musical aesthetic. Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore wrap the entire human experience in shiny headdresses, euphoric dance beats and unforgettable choruses, because life is rarely anything less than bizarre and magnificent.
‘DNA’ is such an example; after a tentative start, it skyrockets into a chorus that pounds in unison with Steele and his lover’s hearts that “beat the same”. Follow-up ‘Alive’ begins with their classic, slightly too high-pitched, monotone verse that you simply cannot sing along with unless it’s playing loud enough to hide the fact you sound like a strangled cat. Then, of course, it launches into a chorus that awakens the increasingly alien feelings of summer – curious electronic pulses and exhilarating synths make for a joyous sense of escapism.
Sure, there are moments where the edge is dampened. Take ‘Concert Pitch’, which, to take the title literally, sounds a bit like something an X-Factor auditionee would pitch to the judges with the hope of becoming a sold-out concert success. But the title track pulls you back in again – dreamy, smooth, and filled with whispering echoes, layers of psychedelic melodies swim in and around each other amidst Steele’s tender proposal, “oh, we can run away – we can always be together”.
‘Awakening’ presents itself with a slightly off-beat, peculiar pulsing of instrumentation that, collectively, sounds like a clock at the height of a severely distorting drug trip. It’s simpler than the other songs on the record, sticking to the fundamentals of placing instrumentation in time with a beat and singing over that, but the force of the disoriented synths makes this advantageous. ‘I’ll Be Around’ follows – muffled, softer, shy almost, flitting away from the obvious uplifting dance melodies and adopting a sensitivity akin to Fleetwood Mac or The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
Warming things up again is ‘Celebrate’, which pulsates with an eager determination beneath a dented call to, er, celebration. Restraining to a simple thudding and fluidity, a fragmented end-of-verse acts as trigger for each synth to scatter off into a distinguishable dimension of their own. Offering yet another unexpected surprise is ‘Keep A Watch’, the album’s crooning closer. Ditching all the electronic excitement and artificial acrobatics, a rawness of emotion is unexpectedly brought forward. It might raise an eyebrow at first, but it’ll certainly leave an impression since it seems EOTS have an ability to successfully flit between genres whilst injecting it with their own euphoric energy.
Is this something they ought to explore more before things become predictable? Maybe. Ice on the Dune is certainly bigger, filled with affectionate lyrics and danceable beats that could all, in their own way, be a summer anthem. But for some, perhaps things will begin to seem familiar that it’s perhaps advantageous they waited five years to release this record. There are, however, plenty of occasions throughout the record that balance experimentation with the familiar template of pop + dance so perfectly that the synths carry you away with them to a new land of flashing lights, warm breezes and grandiose feathered dreams.
– Charlie Clarkson
Ice on the Dune is available now on EMI.
