Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream

Conventional wisdom presumably dictates that I should be eager to expose much-hyped Australian pop outfit Empire of the Sun as vacuous pretenders, a pair of washed-up musos hiding their talentlessness behind a facade of kitsch costumes, extravagant videos and daft, pretentious album covers. But having listened to their full-length debut Walking on a Dream, having given it the chance to really sink in, I don't actually feel quite that way inclined. Don't get me wrong - there's a thick vein of superficiality and glitz running through just about everything that Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore do, but that's not to say that this isn't a fairly decent album, a solid set of ten songs which approach worthlessness just as rarely as they approach true greatness.Surely we've got to concede that the title track, at the very least, must be recognized as a gorgeous slice of electropop. The puddle-depth of the lyrics and the overt, self-consciously retro nature of the synths in particular can't smother the infectiousness of the best tracks that Empire have to offer, and 'Walking on a Dream' itself is definitely the prime example. The lazily cycling guitar riff, the warmly inviting beats, the appealing chorus and the presence of that yearning question: ("is it real now?") - it's thoroughly enjoyable stuff. The most fitting comparison I can think of for Empire's best moments is actually Weird Tapes/Memory Cassette - the same laid-back retro faux-disco is here, the same heavily processed vocals and sleepy, dreamy atmosphere. Other successful outings for the band are mostly in the first half of the record - the mad vocals of "Delta Bay" and the lilting, pleasant instrumental that is 'Country'.Unfortunately, the infectious melodies and outright catchiness of the first few songs never fully reappear in the remainder of the album, and as the tracks lengthen towards the end, the album becomes increasingly tiring and gruelling, which is exactly what it needed to avoid being. It's not often I'd advise a band to attempt to replicate one song more often, but had they tried to fill Walking on a Dream with more sweet pop gems it would have been better for them than relying on the odd swagger of songs like 'Swordfish Hotkiss Night' to hold our attention. That said, this is by no means a bad album, and in fact none of its tracks are in any way wholly unenjoyable. Instead, it's a middling electro listen that charges forward as often as it drifts. 60%Empire of the Sun on MySpace