I’ll admit, I was a little worried when I first heard “Alive”, the lead single off of Empire Of The Sun’s sophomore album, Ice On The Dune. While the video is shiny and mystical (as I’m sure it would be), the song itself doesn’t even come close to the magic that the Australian electropop duo first reached on their breakout hits “Walking On A Dream" and "We Are The People”. Luckily, after digging through the full album, I found that Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore’s second effort wasn’t completely without merit. The back-loaded second half includes some great moments in “Celebrate”, “Surround Sound”, and my favorite of the bunch, “Awakening”. It kicks off with a heartbeat thump paired with a squeaky synth metronome before launching into a chorus that fills the air with Luke’s falsetto and a massive, burpy, electro reverberation. The song’s driving force never lets up and while they probably wont be converting many new followers with the first half of Ice On The Dune, those already on board with the empire can rest a little easier knowing that our dear leaders aren’t merely a one (or two) hit wonder.