After what was painted as a falling out in 2010, and then a reconciliation in 2011, it appears that Empire Of The Sun are back on track and have started work on their follow-up record to smash hit debut Walking On A Dream.
Speaking to Prefix Mag, front man Luke Steele has revealed that he and fellow creative collaborator Nick Littlemore never really had a falling out, but rather that Littlemore was off busy with another project as musical director for Cirque de Soleil. “I think it was really more that he didn’t necessarily want to tour at all, and he got the job as the musical director for a Cirque de Soleil show.” he told the magazine.
“It started in Canada, and it’s just now come out in New York. That was two years of him writing for that. It was kind of hard at first; your brother doesn’t want to come on the road with you. After I did my best job being an alcoholic for a month or two, I realized that people wanted to hear these songs. I did this one interview with some guy, in Poland I think, who said, “When does this become a real band?” And that was because we hadn’t been on the road yet. That made up my mind. I’m like, this guy’s so right. We have to go and play this now.”
Steele has since been busy touring around Australia and the world with the live version of Empire Of The Sun, which does not feature Littlemore or other songwriter Donnie Sloan, playing every festival they can manage including a headline slot at Coachella. But their debut LP was released back in 2008 and the songs are now becoming a bit long in the tooth as they are now well overdue for a follow-up.
The good news for fans is that is exactly what the band have been working on. “We reunited in New York and did five days,” said Steele. “We’ve been writing this week in L.A. We had Donnie, who wrote a lot of the big songs and did a lot of keys on the record there, so it was like the whole Empire. We got about twenty-five sketches toward a new record.”
He continued “With a band like Empire, it can seem effortless. I was just watching the George Harrison documentary the other night, and these guys seemed like they were so relaxed playing. That’s what it’s been like recording this time around. Sometimes it’s like my fingers aren’t even touching the keys on the computer and the tape machine. It just sort of writes itself. I think it’s just going to go bigger.”
Littlemore has since confirmed the news in a tweet from the official Twitter account for PNAU, one of Littlemore’s other projects, where he indicated that the group had relocated from Los Angeles and were now in New Zealand to finish work on the album.
https://twitter.com/#!/pnau/status/146059676419764224
No word yet on when the new record may see the light of day, but if we hear anything solid we’ll be sure to let you know.
