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Dec 13, 2011When they are on, they are very good, as their relaxing – yet strangely dance-worthy – grooves seem almost effortless. Yet, way too often, the duo simply bite off more than they can chew, meaning that when they are off, a 2nd listen almost seems like a chore.
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Dec 13, 2011Is Walking On A Dream the sound of things to come then? Clearly not. Empire Of The Sun's grand ambitions are certainly worth applauding, but unfortunately they amount to nothing more than a cold and pale facsimile of the superior conquests of others who have trod these lands before.
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Much of the album bathes radio-friendly funk-rock in a kind of Balearic after-glow--it conjures that feeling of bittersweet triumph many will have felt as last night becomes this morning, the conquering of a dark that is now needed if sleep and recovery from such an act is to be possible.
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It's obvious that they've spent a while cultivating a specific look, but they seem to have only spent half of that time on the album.
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The album's surfaces gleam, but its flower-power proselytising never quite dispels the notion of Empire of the Sun as MGMT copyists with pretensions.
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I applaud the duo's unpredictability but wish they would calm down a bit.
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MojoThe opening tunes are strong, but in the later half mannered singing and pretentiousness bring back memories of the Thompson Twins. [Mar 2009, p.110]
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Uncut'Half Mast' and the 'Without You' are exquisite pangs of millionaire's melancholy, even if there aren't enough of them to sustain a whole album. [Mar 2009, p.85]
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Their debut sounds like Europop on Special K.
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Walking on a Dream initially sounds as familiar as montage music in an HBO midday movie, but it will haunt your dreams.
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Empire of the Sun's debut offering of electro-pop experiments and dancefloor daydreams is well timed indeed, arriving just as the buzz surrounding MGMT's "Oracular Spectacular" has started to recede.
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Thankfully this album is only 10 tracks long, otherwise I don't think I could have sat all the way through it. I had trouble enough as it is.
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Sadly, the intrigue and theatricality wane midway through "Delta Bay" and never return.
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Unfortunately, despite the well-developed '80s image, the music emulated is not anything worth reviving.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 39 out of 50
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Mixed: 5 out of 50
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Negative: 6 out of 50
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Mar 15, 2011
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Nov 16, 2019
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Dec 30, 2013