"So much changed in our lives and in the world while we were making this record, and somehow, it all pulled us deeper into the band and deeper into our friendship. Twenty years in and this is the most connected we've felt to what we're doing."
"Dimmed Sun," which opens the band's latest album, Dreams of Being Dust, defines this new direction as it alternates between burly metalcore and cleaner, more expansive prog-emo. Gnarly, compressed guitars are paired with shouted or snarled vocals; noodly harmonized riffs accompany the more skyward-reaching singing. Throughout it all, drummer Steven Buttery gets busy, breaking free of the chains of the slow-build climaxes that once hamstrung his abilities.
Their new record Big Dreams, Mister (the title of which should be read in the voice of an early 20th-century newsie) is their first in fourteen years, and it fucking rips. It exists in the rarified air of Superchunk's fantastic post-hibernation record Majesty Shredding and not those "why would they do this?" reunion records of beloved bands whomst shall go unnamed. It is equal parts highly-concentrated effort, pressure-free creativity and the thirst to settle unfinished business after the band stopped making music together in 2012.
Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) have announced a reunion tour leading up to their appearance at Best Friends Forever, bending their own rules regarding a Detroit Lions Super Bowl promise.
