Berliners Empire Escape are back on tour in support of their new self titled EP which is released on Tape (!) and digital download today. After playing support shows for established acts such as Shout Out Louds, Pete & The Pirates, and French Films, the band have completed their first headliner tour last year.
Empire Escape were born from the ashes of Ikaria. Because the band developed a different sound, they wanted to start over. After a drunken night in a pub in Liverpool called The Empire, a cabbie took a detour to show them the house in which John Lennon was born and said “This is where it all began“. And this is were Empire Escape began.
They continued their journey of finding an identity as a new band by traveling to the beautiful wideness of Sweden to record their debut album Colours in spring 2012 with Mathias Olden (Logh) and Pelle Gunnerfeldt (Fireside, The Hives, The Knife). The album was released in September 2013.
Colours doesn’t suffer from the usual growing pains of debut albums because Empire Escape have already grown up and out of their orientation days. Their sound always seems to hesitate between rock and post-punk which is owed to a certain melancholy that pertains to their music and most of all singer Hendrik’s baritone. While most of the songs are upbeat and dance-able, the vocals give them the same dark and melancholic sound that the genre is known for. Their sound easily compares to Joy Division, Editors, The National and White Lies – just for the purpose of throwing in some big names.
Here’s the lead single from their new EP.
