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Ice on the Dune
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Ice on the Dune
Ice on the Dune is the second studio album by Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun, released on 14 June 2013 by Capitol Records. The album was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, with many commenting on the progression of the group's sound from their debut album.
A trailer for the album debuted on 11 March 2013; it was produced by Kelvin Optical, a production division of Bad Robot, and was directed by J. D. Dillard. Along with this, the band released a fictional story related to the album which described a world looked over by an "Emperor" and a "Prophet".
The lead single "Alive" premiered on 15 April 2013, and the album became available to pre-order on iTunes the same day. The music video for the song, filmed in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, was directed by Charles Scott and Alex Theurer and also produced by Kelvin Optical. Both "DNA" and "Celebrate" appeared as follow-up singles.
To promote the album, the duo played a series of US festival dates, and returned to Australia on 30 May to perform at the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Sydney. The duo performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 18 June, marking their first television appearance in the US. The duo also performed at the Australian Splendour in the Grass festival in late July.
The album's cover art, designed by Aaron Hayward and David Homer from Sydney studio Debaser, won an Artisan Award prior to the ARIA Music Awards of 2013, held on 1 December. In addition, the album was nominated for Best Pop Release, Engineer of the Year (Peter Mayes) and Producer of the Year (Steele, Littlemore, Mayes and Jonathan Sloan). Empire of the Sun were also nominated for Best Group for the album, but did not win.
"The centre and the small hours in between the highlight and the Bacchanalian party of 'Alive' and 'DNA' and all these very out-there, almost camp moments, then to that quiet moment within the centre, and then we kind of unroll out of there to the dawn of the new day, to 'Keep a Watch'. So I feel that the record, it does have an evening, or an arc journey to it."
In an interview with MetroLyrics, Nick Littlemore explained that the writing of the album was influenced by frequent touring and travel and the "tyranny of distance", primarily from family. He described the song "I'll Be Around" as "a nice message to each other—to Luke and I, and then to our loved ones and our families and to the audience, that 'we will be around'".
In the same interview, Littlemore again reinforced the impact of distance, stating, "When we came back together, initially it felt like a secret affair and it was great, but then as you run deeper into that relationship again, there were things that we communicated to each other." Elaborating, he said, "We [communicate through] the nature of song. [...] I think there was a large part of what we were writing about was distance and longing, and I guess some way of kind of sending out a message to the wider world, like that there is a force field that protects all of us and no matter where you are, if you feel for someone and they're in your heart, then you're always with them in some sense."
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Ice on the Dune
Ice on the Dune is the second studio album by Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun, released on 14 June 2013 by Capitol Records. The album was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, with many commenting on the progression of the group's sound from their debut album.
A trailer for the album debuted on 11 March 2013; it was produced by Kelvin Optical, a production division of Bad Robot, and was directed by J. D. Dillard. Along with this, the band released a fictional story related to the album which described a world looked over by an "Emperor" and a "Prophet".
The lead single "Alive" premiered on 15 April 2013, and the album became available to pre-order on iTunes the same day. The music video for the song, filmed in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, was directed by Charles Scott and Alex Theurer and also produced by Kelvin Optical. Both "DNA" and "Celebrate" appeared as follow-up singles.
To promote the album, the duo played a series of US festival dates, and returned to Australia on 30 May to perform at the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Sydney. The duo performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 18 June, marking their first television appearance in the US. The duo also performed at the Australian Splendour in the Grass festival in late July.
The album's cover art, designed by Aaron Hayward and David Homer from Sydney studio Debaser, won an Artisan Award prior to the ARIA Music Awards of 2013, held on 1 December. In addition, the album was nominated for Best Pop Release, Engineer of the Year (Peter Mayes) and Producer of the Year (Steele, Littlemore, Mayes and Jonathan Sloan). Empire of the Sun were also nominated for Best Group for the album, but did not win.
"The centre and the small hours in between the highlight and the Bacchanalian party of 'Alive' and 'DNA' and all these very out-there, almost camp moments, then to that quiet moment within the centre, and then we kind of unroll out of there to the dawn of the new day, to 'Keep a Watch'. So I feel that the record, it does have an evening, or an arc journey to it."
In an interview with MetroLyrics, Nick Littlemore explained that the writing of the album was influenced by frequent touring and travel and the "tyranny of distance", primarily from family. He described the song "I'll Be Around" as "a nice message to each other—to Luke and I, and then to our loved ones and our families and to the audience, that 'we will be around'".
In the same interview, Littlemore again reinforced the impact of distance, stating, "When we came back together, initially it felt like a secret affair and it was great, but then as you run deeper into that relationship again, there were things that we communicated to each other." Elaborating, he said, "We [communicate through] the nature of song. [...] I think there was a large part of what we were writing about was distance and longing, and I guess some way of kind of sending out a message to the wider world, like that there is a force field that protects all of us and no matter where you are, if you feel for someone and they're in your heart, then you're always with them in some sense."