VIDEO OF THE DAY: “PLEASE DON’T TELL MY LOVER” BY EMPIRES

“And so I killed my idols / They’re dead in the vinyl / Oh, the piece came out of my soul / It’s a recital / Now she won’t understand / the dark side of my heart / all the part-time wonders,” Sean Van Vleet sings on Empires’ “Please Don’t Tell My Lover,” one of eleven tracks on the band’s major label debut, Orphan (Chop Shop / Island, September 2014). For the follow-up to 2012’s Garage Hymns, the Chicago four-piece headed to Texas to work with Grammy-nominated producer John Congleton, resulting in an anthemic record of power pop that pays tribute to such late-1980s/early 1990 idols as My Bloody Valentine, U2, Talking Heads, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and even Chris Isaak. The album, which can currently be streamed here, also features such big-sounding songs as “Silverfire,” “Hostage,” “Honeyblood,” and “Stay Lonely.” Lead singer and songwriter Van Vleet, guitarists Tom Conrad and Mike Robinson, and drummer Max Steger will be at Baby’s All Right on November 14 with Cold Fronts and NGHBRS; admission is free with RSVP.