The Australian musician Luke Steele is best-known as half of the psychedelic electro-pop duo Empire Of The Sun. Specifically, Steele is the Empire Of The Sun guy in the big metal headdresses. Steele also leads the Sleepy Jackson, the long-running alt-rock band, and he’s been branching out into other projects lately. In recent years, he’s worked with Silverchair’s Daniel Johns and with the rapper Aminé. Today, Steele announces that he’s made his first-ever solo album.
Luke Steele’s solo LP is called Listen To The Water. He recorded it in a Northern California cabin that he calls Luke Steele’s Eccentric Farm. There, he locked himself in with veteran session musicians Dan Dugmore and Brian Kilgore, making a record that promises to be trippy and folky. (A press release names Syd Barrett and the Flaming Lips as influences.) First single “Common Man” is a gentle song but not quite a back-to-basics one; it’s as twinkly as it is strummy. Steele describes “Common Man” like this:
“Common Man” is about the underdog. The working class, forever hustling but sometimes it gets to be too much. Finding a place of rest is unpredictable, it comes in waves. But triumph is born from that struggle, and you’ll see the glory within all the moments and tests.
Luke’s wife and Sleepy Jackson bandmate Jodi directed the “Common Man” video, in which Steele wanders through snowy woods while playing acoustic guitar. That’s pretty much what Steele does in his trailer for the new album, too. The whole thing has a very Jared Leto vibe. Check out “Common Man” and the album trailer below.
Listen To The Water is out 5/13 on EMI Australia.
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