Empire Of The Sun – “High And Low”

Empire Of The Sun – “High And Low”

Empire Of The Sun have announced a new album, Two Vines, due later this fall. The Aussie dance-poppers enjoyed a resurgence in popularity earlier this year after their 2008 hit “Walking On A Dream” was featured in a Honda Civic commercial. They’ve rode the momentum from that commercial and turned it into an entirely new collection of songs, their first since 2013’s Ice On The Dune. The album features contributions from Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, Wendy Melvoin (from Prince’s band the Revolution), and pianist Henry Hey and bassist Tim Lefebvre from David Bowie’s Blackstar band.

Here’s what the duo’s Nick Littlemore had to say about the album on KROQ’s Kevin & Bean show today:

There was an image we talked about very early on with this record, before we wrote the title track, “Two Vines,” and that was this image of a modern city overtaken by jungle, almost like mother nature taking back the planet. All the buildings will turn back to sand. All it will be is nature again. We wanted to make something that reflected the beauty of that, and the wisdom that plants can give us about living harmoniously on this beautiful planet.

The lead single, “High And Low,” is a slow-building slice of euphoria with big drums, grand synths, and swishing ambient sweeps. Littlemore talked a bit about it…

It was about this girl I knew when I was a kid called Alice D who was kind of a wild child. She did all kinds of crazy things. There’s an Australian film called The Year My Voice Broke, I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but there’s a girl in that that kind of lives a mysterious life. We wanted to write a song that captured the innocence and bravery of youth, and being a teenager, and having these kind of experiences where you throw caution to the wind and you try things for the first time.

Listen below.

Tracklist:
01 “Before”
02 “High And Low”
03 “Two Vines”
04 “Friends”
05 “There’s No Need”
06 “Way To Go”
07 “Ride”
08 “Digital Life”
09 “First Crush”
10 “ZZZ”
11 “To Her Door”
12 “Keystone”
13 “Lend Me Some Light”
14 “Welcome To My Life”
15 “Walking On A Dream (Manny Marroquin Remix)”

Two Vines is out 10/28 via Astralwerks.

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