On the occasion of their recently released fourth studio album, Ask That God , Empire of the Sun ‘s Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele recently came through the Billboard News studio to talk about the new music and the past, present and future of their longstanding project.
Empire of the Sun Shines With ‘Ask That God’: Stream It Now
“We had to turn all of the computers off, we had to shut everything down, and even though the pandemic was horrible, for the band I thought it was a bit of a blessing because we got to step away,” says the group’s frontman Steele of the eight years between the new LP and the band’s last album. “For 20 years we’ve built this castle, and it was time for us to kind of abandon the dream and let it all get covered in reeds, to then come back again and realize what we loved so much about it in the first place.”
“I think what brings us back is what Edgar Cayce said,” adds Littlemore, referencing the late American clairvoyant, “is that sound is the medicine of the future, and I think we’re seeing that now, and I think that’s what’s always binded us together, is to make things that would live in the hearts.”
This elevated thinking applied to all areas of the album, including its title, with Littlemore saying that “everyone has their own person Jesus, or Allah or Buddha or whoever it is for that person. And I think music can be that for you too, and it’s certainly been that for us. And that is often the intention when we’re creating music, to create something that can be a beacon of hope and can be a signal of light and levity.”
To bring the album to life visually, the duo trekked to Thailand to film a series of characteristically cinematic, fantastical high-concept videos, many of them shot during long days in 100-degree heat.
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But the pair says the sweat was effort was worth it for how the vibrant, layered clips — a few of which feature cameos from Steele’s son — expand the Empire of the Sun mythology “into a new dimension,” says Littlemore. “We’ve always been about something a little larger than the other bands. That’s the reason we started in the first place … we looked at the landscape and saw shoegazing, and we wanted to see Bowie.”
During the conversation, the pair also discuss Ask That God track “AEIOU,” the first collaboration between the band and Littlemore’s longstanding Pnau project, along with their upcoming tour, which includes a headlining show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in November.
Watch the complete interview above.
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