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‘We were exhausted – mentally unwell’: Empire of the Sun on the downside of success – and rising again

In the eight years since Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele’s last album, there have been hits, clashes, babies and illness – and a new appreciation for one another

Things have calmed down in recent years: in 2019 Littlemore had to retreat while he recovered from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a version of shingles that paralysed half his face and affected his hearing. Steele’s brother Jesse, who had also played in the Sleepy Jackson, realised he was not coping well and, in Luke’s words, “rescued” him by taking him on a midnight stroll on a pitch-black night, then to church the next day. Littlemore split his isolation between Sydney and Los Angeles, while Steele and family hunkered down in a Unabomber-style cabin in north California, where the local store sold only beer and ammunition.

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