I-Empire by Angels & Airwaves

I-Empire, the second album from Angels & Airwaves, went on sale as a download from the band's website on November 1, 2007, with CDs following a few days later through Geffen and Suretone. Tom DeLonge had launched the band during Blink-182's 2005 hiatus as a multimedia art project as much as a group, and this is the first album with Matt Wachter on bass, alongside guitarist David Kennedy and drummer Atom.

DeLonge wrote the words and sings them like a man addressing a stadium from orbit. The sound is space rock on a grand scale: chiming, delay-soaked guitars, synths swelling in the background and big, patient build-ups, with the band's debts to Radiohead, Pink Floyd and U2 worn openly. "Everything's Magic" is the bright, bouncy standout, and "Secret Crowds" flexes a bit more muscle.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.