Empire of the Sun is not named after the movie by Steven Spielberg or the novel by J.G. Ballard, but after the planet Earth. They see the sun as an element that people around the globe value in exactly the same way.
In 2007, rock artist Luke Steele and electronic musician Nick Littlemore founded the Empire of the Sun project. Since then, the Australians have been working heavily with visual stimuli: they wear futuristic costumes and their video clips look like wonderful trips through colorful LSD worlds.
The band say about themselves that they want to be like a poster in a child's room: "An invitation that automatically pushes you into another world, a dream world," says Littlemore.
Spiritual, but not religious
They also achieve this with the tracks on their third album "Two Vines", which will be released on October 28, 11 days after their performance in Zurich. "From a purely spiritual point of view, we've come a long way," says Littlemore. "We are trying to reach a deeper understanding of peace, love and insight - and to sow love everywhere."
They were also delayed in the USA: their debut single "Walking on a Dream" from 2008 only made it into the Billboard charts in 2016, when Honda used the track for its advertising. This also earned them invitations to appear on Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon.
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
17.10.16, X-TRA Zurich
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