Album review: Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream (3/5)

Judging from the packaging Empire of the Sun should be the year's outrageous breakout band, akin to what MGMT were last year. Male duo that frequently goes shirtless? Check. Outrageous posturing and costumes? Check. Mining '80s new wave? Check.

So what's missing? Pretty much the key ingredient: vitality. Sure they have a really fun album cover that brilliantly apes Star Wars film posters, and their first single "Walking on a Dream" is pretty decent, but much of the rest of the album is surprisingly MOR. Much of the time they seem to be hiding behind their '80s sound rather than using it as a creative springboard to take a few risks and give us something new. And where they do take risks, the results are just odd.

The first half of the album has most of the better songs. "Standing on the Shore" is a brooding opener with a repetitive guitar refrain and '80s-style drumming. Lyrically I'm not sure what it's about--which is the case with many songs here--but the main point seems to be mental chaos ("don't want to talk; all I hear is noise"). Then there's "Walking on a Dream," which is a really great song. It's upbeat and fairly simple--guitar, bass, synthesizer and drums, all quite distinct. "Half Mast" is pretty similar and also very '80s sounding. "We Are the People" is more brooding, but better than "Standing on the Shore," since it has a more assertive melody. These are good songs (the best on the album), but I'm surprised by how mellow they are. This is not the raucous, crazy stuff you'd expect from two guys dressed as they are the album sleeve.

"Delta Bay" has a funkier sound and a prominent drum stomp, but it also has annoying vocal effects that make the lyrics undecipherable. "Country" has a reflective quality to it, blending gentle keyboard effects with acoustic guitar behind the synth melody. It's an instrumental with no drums either. "The World" follows with a similar dreamy quality. Again the vocals have been distorted, although I don't mind it so much in this song, where the falsetto singing blends in with the synths. "Sworfish Hotkiss Night" sounds somewhat like something Scissor Sisters might do, although not as good and with meaningless lyrics: "Kings Cross hot shot, Jesus Christ on web blog, Cowboy at a cop shop, Tiger in a drug store."

At this point in the album, I've pretty much lost interest, and there's nothing to bring me back. "Tiger By My Side" has retro space-age synth effects, electric guitar and a "wah ooh wee ooh" refrain. The final track "Without You" sounds so much like a mid-1980s ballad that they might of well have just remade The Cars' "Drive," since at least that song has a little more umph.

While there are some good songs up front, the party ends pretty quickly on this album, which I was pretty excited about and therefore disappointed with its lack of energy and invention.

Best: Walking on a Dream, We Are the People, Half Mast, Standing on the Shore