Album Review: Empire of the Sun – Ask That God
3 min read
Empire of the Sun – I saw them play at Brixton Academy in July 2019. I was expecting a slew of tracks in the mould of Walking on a Dream maybe edging towards a more house music kind of vibe. Let me tell you, my experience was not as anticipated: the visuals were weird, the venue was boiling hot and the music (outside of the two tracks I knew of) was… horrific!!
“So why did you ask to cover this album then?” I hear you ask – Hope!!! Whilst I don’t want to be an ‘Empyrean’, I did enjoy their first album, and with Ask That God, their fourth studio album (Released through EMI and Capital Records), I am hoping that it is more of the ‘good stuff’ from Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore, rather than most of what I experienced on that balmy 2019 evening. Let’s find out….
First single release Changes provides a familiar greeting to the album for those who don’t hide themselves in their self-made Spotify playlists – a punchy indie pop track in the mould of Empire’s best, with a catchy hook that provides scents of sunsets behind the Yasaka Pagoda in the historic centre of Kyoto. This is backed up by fellow release Cherry Blossom, which is thematically in the same synth-pop ballpark, though there are a series of pitch/change ups interwoven throughout the tune, which give it a different, almost arcade game score feel. Further single releases follow, with Music on the Radio providing a punchy, strut-worthy beat and the fantastic line “I don’t like the music on the radio. But I sing along”, and The Feeling You Get, which really has a distinct 80’s synth-pop feel to the melody, and the lower vocal tone really gives off Neil Tennant vibes.
After starting the track with a very alluring trance synth set up, I found AEIOU (with Pnau) turned into a bit of a generic synth-pop track with nothing to reel you in other than the chant of the vowels at the chorus. Following on, Television brings the tempo right down, and the driving, thudding beat and catchy, almost 80’s cartoon melody (a la Daft Punk’s Discovery), this is my favourite track on the album – a hard act to follow… as Happy Like You sadly proves, with a daft punk-light style… but uninspiringly bland. Revolve thankfully bucks the decline, with a funky beat and a great harmony between beat, synth and vocals. We take a bit of a chill out with the ambient Wild World and Rhapsodize, with title track Ask That God sandwiched in between – this feels a lot like early Empire of the Sun tracks (which is no bad thing). At the finale we have Friends I Know – the closest we get to a ballad, this synth-acoustic mesh continues the trend of down tempo chill out music in the latter stages of Ask That God, and closes out with a semi synth orchestral close.
Feeling a bit Daft Punk in parts, and a bit 80’s synth-pop in others, Ask That God still manages to feel like the best parts of Empire of the Sun. Though there are moments during the album I felt were a bit generic and flat, these moments were fleeting, and in the main the album was well paced, feeling like the Empire of the Sun that I want to hear… who knows, I might even give them another chance and go see them live!
