''Two Vines'' is the third studio album by Australian
electronic music duo
Empire of the Sun. It was released on 28 October 2016 by
Virgin EMI Records. The album features guest appearances from
Fleetwood Mac's
Lindsey Buckingham,
Wendy Melvoin,
Henry Hey, and
Tim Lefebvre.
Background
The duo started writing their third studio album after contributing music to the 2014 film ''
Dumb and Dumber To''.
The album was recorded in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...
and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, and it was co-produced by Empire of the Sun and
Peter Mayes alongside regular collaborator Jonathan Sloan.
In November 2015, lead singer
Luke Steele noted that the album was "75 percent there".
On 22 August 2016, it was announced that the album was titled ''Two Vines'' and would be released on 28 October. It features contributions from
Fleetwood Mac singer-guitarist
Lindsey Buckingham, Wendy Melvoin (from
Prince
A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...
's
The Revolution
A revolution is a drastic political change that usually occurs relatively quickly. For revolutions which affect society, culture, and technology more than political systems, see social revolution.
Revolution may also refer to:
Aviation
*Warner ...
band), and
David Bowie collaborators
Henry Hey and
Tim Lefebvre.
explained the inspiration behind the title as "this image of a modern city overtaken by jungle".
The album's lead single, "
High and Low", was released on 24 August 2016.
This was shortly followed by the album's first promotional single, "Two Vines", which was released the following day. "To Her Door" was released on 30 September 2016 as the album's second single.
Critical reception
''Two Vines'' received generally positive reviews from critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an
average score of 66, based on 14 reviews.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Two Vines''.
*
Empire of the Sun – production
* Steve Bach – keyboards
*
Lindsey Buckingham – backing vocals, guitars
* Evan Frasier –
mbira
*
Teddy Geiger – vocals
* Mark Goldenberg – acoustic guitar
* Michael Harris – engineering , drum and percussion engineering
*
Henry Hey – keyboards
* Scott Horscroft –
A&R, production assistance
* SK Kakraba –
gyil
* Mito Kasuya – vocals
*
Tim Lefebvre – bass
* Alan Mark Lightner –
marimba, xylophone
* Mike Marsh – mastering
*
Peter Mayes – engineering, mixing, production
* Jake Najor – drums
* Heather O'Brien – A&R coordination
* Todd Simon – percussion direction
* Todd M. Simon – marimba,
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist, ...
* Donnie Sloan – production
* Dexter Story –
slit drums
* Te'Amir Yohannes Sweeney – slit drums
* David Wilder – bass
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
2016 albums
Astralwerks albums
Empire of the Sun (band) albums
Virgin EMI Records albums
Albums recorded at Electro-Vox Recording Studios