Trials Fusion: Empire of The Sky (2014)

Award-winning electro-pop duo from Australia, containing members of the Sleepy Jackson and Pnau.
Best known for their hit single "Walking on a Dream," Australia's larger-than-life electro-glam-pop duo Empire of the Sun feature the Sleepy Jackson's Luke Steele and Pnau's Nick Littlemore. Steele had previously worked with Pnau on "With You Forever," a track from the band's 2007 self-titled third album, and the pair enjoyed collaborating so much that they started their own project, drawing inspiration from the likes of Phoenix and Daft Punk. In fall 2008, Empire of the Sun released their debut album, Walking on a Dream, which the musicians described as "a spiritual road movie." Featuring songs co-written by Pnau's other half, Peter Mayes, the album went platinum in Australia and the title track became a hit single across the globe…

Empire of the Sun, the visionary Australian electronic duo comprising Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore are back with their first album in eight years. Regarding the new LP, the band’s Luke Steele explained in a press statement, “Ask That God is an album we searched for and were thankfully blessed with. We are nothing more than conduits, gathering experience and finding what is meant for the Empire to find.”

Empire of the Sun, the visionary Australian electronic duo comprising Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore are back with their first album in eight years. Regarding the new LP, the band’s Luke Steele explained in a press statement, “Ask That God is an album we searched for and were thankfully blessed with. We are nothing more than conduits, gathering experience and finding what is meant for the Empire to find.”

It's a bold concept; take Pink Floyd's iconic Dark Side of the Moon (Harvest, 1973) and reinterpret it in a big band jazz setting. With upwards of forty million copies sold, every note, every nuance of Floyd's eighth album is so firmly entrenched in the minds of the band's legion devotees that to tamper with the work in any way is to leave oneself open to facile criticism. French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê, however, is nothing if not adventurous. Lê has already demonstrated on Purple: Celebrating Jimi Hendrix (ACT Music, 2007) and Songs of Freedom (ACT Music, 2012)—his tribute to classic pop and rock songs of the 1960s and 1970s—that he can breathe new life into old material without being overly reverential.