Set in a J.G Ballard novel (of whose novel ‘Empire of the Sun’ the band is named after), full of neon tigers, unicorns and winged elephants (and that weird hairy dragon thing from The Never Ending Story). Now imagine seeing two Australians dressed as a mix between Flash Gordon, Adam Ant , Aladdin Sane era Bowie and perhaps a bit of Aztec shaman, acting out there outlandish 80’s blockbuster fantasy in an oriental sci-fi wonderland. This almost comes close to describing Empire of the Sun and listening to their debut album, ‘Walking on a Dream’; they must have been raised purely on 80’s science fiction and H.G. Wells novels. The Aussie duo consists of Luke Steele (previously of the Sleepy Jackson) and Nick Littlemore, who are both seeking their magnum opus in this experimental and enchanting album. These guys seem to truly believe in their far east utopian fantasy, lands possibility that you can’t judge this album by its recycled concept. If you were impressed by MGMT’s mix of psychedelia, synth pop and indie last year, then be prepared to fall in love with ‘Empire of the Sun’s’ debut effort.

‘Standing On The Shore’ kicks things off with a blast of synthesizer, then comes debut single, ‘Walking On A Dream’, another synth masterpiece with an injection of pure sexiness, sounding like MGMT’s and Cut Copy’s illegitimate love child. ‘Half Mast’ follows on a wave of avant-garde pop, building into a possible summer anthem. Steele and Littlemore’s vocals work perfectly together in creating beautiful, mesmerising harmonies, however often they sound dangerously similar to counterparts MGMT. A break from the electronica for a minute in ‘Delta Bay’ reveals the lads can also make good with the border line post punk, sounding like a camped up Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers track. ‘Country’ interludes the album, with 5 minutes of relaxing Mogwai on magic mushrooms instrumentals, containing an intro that crescendos into a mesmeric, pan pipe backed Arabian day dream played by two wacky Aussies in their own amazing fantasy world. You can hear sides of The Sleepy Jackson emerge in ‘The World’, in both the sweeping, eerie synthesized strings and the mellow atmosphere created by the lightly strummed acoustic guitar. Finally, in ‘Tiger by my Side’ and ‘Without You’ we enter 80’s synth anthem territory, like a psychedelic Simple Minds, the latter of which (a bona fide ballad) finishes off the album perfectly, with its slow disintegration into the metaphorical horizon.

Whatever utopian world Empire of the Sun have created in their heads, I love it, and I want to go, so long as it’s soundtracked by this brilliant debut effort.