Empire of the Sun Rekindle Their Magic on 'Ask That God'
Empire of the Sun have returned to their rightful throne. The masters of eclectic, too-catchy-for-its-own-good pop music released their first album of new music since 2016. They’ve regained some popularity over the last year for their tune “We Are The People,” which seems to have garnered hype for the release of Ask That God. It’s full of addictive alternative pop with beats guaranteed to make you dance; the album came out just in time for it to be the summer party go-to.
“Changes” sets not only the vibe of the album but the sentiment of it. They are on a new plane; it’s about letting go and moving on when life tells you no. These are the messages that need to be heard in pop music. The bass carries you through the waves of energy right next to the unique sound of Luke Steele’s voice. Synth-pop is a style they have perfected, and “Cherry Blossom” brings them back to those roots. “I love being beside you,” Steele sings. It’s charming and compelling, a song that not only brings beauty to the album but a sense of wholeness.
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“Music On The Radio” is an especially fascinating song to me. The band sings of not liking the music on the radio but singing along anyway. I find this interesting because I, too, don’t like a lot of mainstream music you hear over the airwaves, but somehow, I’m still singing along, knowing the words from the hundreds of TikToks attached to those songs. The track is not at all degrading toward this idea, though. Empire of the Sun’s secret weapon is the ability to eloquently disguise even the heaviest of topics under an umbrella of poppy dance beats.
It seems that falling in love is heavy on the band’s mind, especially on “The Feeling You Get.” “Lovers get lost in the dreams in their head / We won’t stay here, and we won’t be back again / Fallin’ in love, we’re fallin’ in love / It’s the feelin’, feelin’ you get.” The band has also learned how to use their vowels on “AEIOU,” their collaboration with PNAU. This is what you’d hear bouncing off the speakers in an EDM club; it harnesses an infectious energy that is hardly containable. About the track, Steele said, “This song is about not letting the garden of Eden within us all be corrupted by the world.” I think that’s a really beautiful way of describing it and a rather accurate one.
“Television” delivers a deliciously cosmic guitar lick and a throbbing beat that sucks you right in. The song almost seems to break the fourth wall that television creates: A divide between the viewer and the content that they’re absorbing. It can be dull, droning on and on, but hard to look away from. The track reflects that with a monotone delivery in some parts, much like the content of our TVs does. It’s a reflection and a calling out of what we choose to believe and take to be true.
Circling back, the band has a knack for touching on heavy subjects under the mask of something catchy. “Happy Like You” follows that path as well. “I’ve been clouded by machines / Lost my way deep inside another screen / All I wanna be is happy.” We play this game with ourselves, and we pollute our own minds but then wonder why we aren’t happy. This song speaks to me in a beautiful way; it’s an encouragement to find the bright spots in a dark and dismal world (with some moments of Daft Punk-like talk-boxing).
Opting for an initial spoken delivery, “Revolve” comes back to the idea of letting go. Allow yourself to fall in love, to dance, to be free, to understand that you do have choices in life. The energy that surrounds us is a product of what we put out into the world, and that’s certainly an idea the band ran with on this album. I admire their ability to see the good in the bad and to preach that for the bad, there is still good, even if it feels so far away. “Wild World” seems to mirror that and slows the pace down a bit. It almost feels like distant nostalgia, thinking about how crazy life is even through all of the things we have to go through.
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The title track, “Ask That God,” is extraordinary. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Steele and Littlemore described what this “God” is to them. It is everything; it could be a religious god, but it could also be the breeze, your mother, a lake, your dog, your favorite sweater. It is what fills you and lifts you up, the thing in this world that you come to after hard times, and allow it to soothe and inspire you. To me, it’s an incredibly unique and fascinating take on the idea of god. It brings home the idea of our immense interconnectedness.
“Rhapsodize” serves almost as an intermission, the final breath of air before the finale: “Friends I Know.” It’s a rather emotionally charged sendoff; the band chose to use soft piano in contrast to their usual dance-pop beats. The message seems to stick more in this fashion. “It’s not goodbye / Hold your head high / This night we’ll find love / It’s not goodbye / Hold your head high / Two lights will find love.” I love this one because it’s so completely up for interpretation, but my favorite part is the use of vocal effects to signify an ending. The beginning starts with a strong voice and slowly morphs into something more glitchy and robot-like, almost like a human fading out of existence into something more (or less). Soft strings tug at you to see the end, and then it’s over. What a strange and captivating track, one that truly closes the arc that is Ask That God.
These days, I’m not often shocked by how much I love a new release, but this one certainly had my jaw on the floor several different times. It feels like a rebirth; the intensity fades as the album continues and finishes on a rather hopeful note. No matter what happens, this is not the end; whether we exist on an energetic plane or simply in someone’s memory, it is never the end. Empire of the Sun has outdone themselves on this one.
