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Empire Of The SunEclipse BroadcastWalking On A DreamWe Are The People
The duo achieved chart success with their first single "Walking on a Dream" which peaked at number ten on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and reached number sixty four on the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album, also titled Walking on a Dream,
was released in October 2008, and to date has been certified platinum
in Australia[5] and has spawned the top 25 hit "We Are the People".[6] Empire of the Sun has gained mainstream media attention for gaining fourth
position on the BBC’s annual Sound of Music poll 2009.[7] They
are currently signed to EMI Australia and Virgin UK.[8] Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore met in 2000 after being introduced by Steele's A&R executive, Simon Moor,[9] in a bar in Sydney.[10] Both were at the time signed to EMI and had already been working on their own independent projects,[2] however they instantly became friends and almost immediately decided to begin a collaborative music project together.[10] Their first collaboration was "Tell the Girls That I'm Not Hangin' Out", which appeared on The Sleepy Jackson's 2003 debut album, Lovers.[9] However, the pair fell out when Steele chose to use a different version of the song. Littlemore later told Rolling Stone Australia "I’m a very intense person and I take things to heart." They reunited for two songs on Pnau's self-titled album Pnau in 2007 - "Freedom" and opener "With You Forever". Littlemore has commented "when [Peter Mayes and I] wrote 'With You Forever', I knew straight away I had to send it to Luke. A day later, he called me up and sang the whole thing over the phone to me.” These initial sessions sparked what would later become Empire of the Sun (under the working title of Steelemore).[11] As Steele was living in Perth at the time and Littlemore was in Sydney for the next few months the pair independently continued to write songs for the project and organized meetings in Sydney where they decided on the album's musical direction and style.[10] Eventually the pair went into the studio with Peter Mayes to record the final material, all of which was entirely produced by themselves.[2] Although the name of the project has been attributed
to the 1984 novel of the same name by J. G. Ballard,[5] Littlemore
denies this and offers an explanation, saying, "the name comes more from the idea of (and you'll see this in the ongoing videos)
the fact that we're traveling around the world going to all the
places of empires of the civilization where the sun has been a
theme of worship. It's not based on the Ballard novel nor the Spielberg
film of the same name."[10] After several months of consulting on the material for the album, Littlemore and Steele went into the studio to record their debut album. Titled Walking on a Dream, the album was released on 4 October 2008. Prior to its release six tracks were put up on the social networking site MySpace for fans to listen to.[12] The album debuted at number eight on the ARIA charts and eventually peaked at number six.[13] Their first single titled "Walking on a Dream" was released digitally on 30 August 2008.[14] The single received airtime from many Australian radio stations and has since reached #10 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, breaking the record for the longest time taken for a single to reach the top 10.[15] It has as well been released as a free single on 21 April 2009. The second single released off the album, entitled "We Are the People", peaked at number twenty-four on the ARIA Charts. In September 2009 this song was used in an American advertising campaign for Vizio televisions. The third single, "Standing on the Shore" was released on iTunes on 12 June and for general release on 23 June. The video was filmed in Lancelin in April 2009.[16] After an article released lately, it was announced that "Without You" will be the 4th single for Empire of the Sun. The video was filmed in FOX Studios in Sydney, Australia and has gained positive responses due to its changed tempo and strong emotion. The single is due to be released in late September. Critical response to the album has been mixed,
generating a score of 60 on the review aggregator Metacritic.[17]
Martin Robinson in his review for NME described their debut as "silly but their songs demand to be taken seriously, just like Prince, Ultravox
and Bowie. And yes, they're like MGMT – in that they're great."[18] Under the Radar also rated it favourably describing it as "a highly visual experience".[19] However some critics were less satisfied with
the pair's debut. Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian rated it 3 out
of 5 stars, applauding the duo's unpredictability, but wished "they would calm down a bit".[21] Popmatters were also underwhelmed by the album, claiming "Unfortunately, despite the well developed '80s image, the music emulated is not
anything worth reviving."[22] In the UK, they gained fourth position on the BBC News website's Sound of 2009 poll.[23] Empire of the Sun appeared for the first time in a Triple J Hottest 100 with two entries in the 2008 countdown: "We Are the People" at number 68 and "Walking on a Dream" at number 4.[24] On 22 July 2009, Empire of the Sun made a special broadcast in conjunction with the solar eclipse that occurred on that day, which included a sneak preview of their forthcoming performance at the Parklife Festival in Australia. Luke Steele performed "Breakdown" and "Swordfish Hotkiss Night".[25] Contrary to previous suggestions that they would remain a studio band, Empire of the Sun performed live, alongside Lady Sovereign and La Roux, at Australia's Parklife Festival during September/October 2009.[26] In September 2009 Luke Steele revealed that his Empire of the Sun bandmate Nick Littlemore had been missing for five months and that he would also be performing a series of upcoming shows in the duo's native Australia solo. Asked whether Littlemore was still a member of the band, Steele said: "I really don't know, hey, he's just left me with the baby."[9] However on 26 November 2010, Littlemore, in an interview with internet music site The Music Network, said, "I talked to Luke (Steele) the other day; we’re doing a new record. We’ve already written a couple of tunes. You know when it’s right I guess."[27] In July 2011 Nick Littlemore announced that Empire of the Sun had gone into the studio at the end of June to begin working on a second Empire of the Sun album. In an interview with Confidential, he explained that he and Steele had not, as reported, fallen out, but that Littlemore had been heavily involved in writing music for Cirque du Soleil and was therefore unable to tour. However, while playing a track from the new album to the interviewer, Littlemore confirmed he would "come on board this time, actually come together and tour."[28] "Walking on a Dream" had been nominated as Song of the Year at the 2009 Australian Performing Rights Association awards. Empire of the Sun were nominated for 6 awards at the 2009 ARIA Awards. They were nominated for Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group, Best Pop Release, Best Selling Single and Best Selling Album, winning all but the Best Selling awards. Luke Steele also performed "Walking on a Dream" at the event. Empire of the Sun also received an additional 5 nominations (for Producer of the Year, Engineer of the Year, Best Video and Best Cover Art) as part of the Artisan Awards section of the 2009 ARIA Awards, the winners of which were announced on 10 November, prior to the official ceremony. They won all but 2 of these awards, one nomination of which (for "We Are the People") was in the same category (Best Video) they won in for "Walking on a Dream". In October 2010, "We Are the People" was used as the soundtrack for a Vodafone TV commercial in Germany and went to No. 1 on the Official Media Control Charts.[29] The group played their first American show at Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park on 6 August 2010 and are set to play their first South American show in Sao Paulo, Brazil. "We Are the People" is included on the soundtrack for the 2011 film The Roommate and "Walking on a Dream" is included on the soundtrack for the 2011 film Hall Pass. According to an October 25, 2011 article in Prefixmag.com,
Luke Steele confirmed that work is already underway on a new Empire
of the Sun album with Nick Littlemore and Donnie Sloan.[30] Released: 4 October 2008 AUS: 2× Platinum[42] [edit] Singles AUS: 2× Platinum[42] Walking on a Dream GER: Platinum [46] 2009 "Standing on the Shore" —
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — The ARIA Music Awards of 2009 nominations were
announced on 8 October 2009.[51] Empire of the Sun received the
most nominations of any artist,[52] with a total of eleven. The
winners were announced on 26 November 2009 with Empire of the Sun
winning in seven categories. ARIA AWARDS 2010 The Aria Awards 2010 nominations were announced on 28 September 2010. The winners are announced on November Sunday 7 November 2010.[53]
The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982
by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).[54]
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