Electro-pop duo Empire of the Sun have announced they will release their third album, Two Vines, on October 28 via Astralworks. They last released an LP, Ice on the Dune, in 2013.
Two Vines features collaborations with Wendy Melvoin (The Revolution), pianist Henry Hey and bassist Tim Lefebvre (David Bowie’s Blackstar), and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac). The duo recorded the album in Hawaii and Los Angeles, and received production assistance from Peter Mayes (Sia, the Killers, Mika). “High and Low” will be the album’s lead single.
Despite not releasing an LP since 2013, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore have rarely strayed far from the spotlight. In 2014, the duo contributed two original tracks, “Tonight” and “Wandering Star”, to the Dumb and Dumber To soundtrack.
This year, the title track from their 2008 debut album Walking on a Dream featured in a national Honda commercial entitled, “The Dreamer”. The album shot up the US charts, peaking at #3 on Billboard’s Alternative music charts, topping the dance music charts, and peaking at #40 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. A remix will appear on Two Vines.
In a press release, the band’s Nick Littlemore said, “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. He added, “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.”
Two Vines:
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