Empire Of The Sun : "Walking On A Dream"

Empire Of The Sun sounds like it should come directly after a colon and the words "The Mummy 4." Actually, they're another synthed-out (potential) waste of space, throw-back. I mean, at what point are we going to get sick of all this 1980s revivalist shit? No matter how well it's being done now, it's definitely been done before. Duran Duran was awesome. We already had Human League. I already like Depeche Mode. What's your policy of truth?

Problem is, this song rips. Really, really rips.

Like a cut out of Phoenix's early career (there are shades of "If I Ever Feel Better," although that is insulting to both parties), Empire Of The Sun have strung together as effervescent a song as you'll hear this year. It glides over, above, and sometimes through its own arrangement with a propulsive hum, hiding just at the back of the mix. Simple synth-resolutions end up giving the quality of a heaving chest. By the time we come to the lyrics, "we are always running/just for the thrill of it (the thrill of it)," it's decided. You'll drive the car until it runs out of gas and then you'll get out and sprint until you pass out. It's that kind of motion - sea-sick with color and completely out of oxygen

Listen :: Empire of the Sun - "Walking on a Dream"