If you aren't yet familiar with Toronto's Young Empires, you soon will be. Fusing electronic music with world sounds has led the band to create their own strain of indie dance music, and the group is poised to make a big impression with audiences across genres.

The band — Aaron Ellingson, Jake Palahnuk and Matthew Vlahovich — have been touring all over the world since their formation late in 2009, with a lot of highprofile gigs opening for the likes of GirlTalk and Foster The People. The most impressive fact about their touring career so far is that Wake All My Youth, their new EP arriving on January 31, is their recording debut.

"It's been a crazy ride. The stuff we've done without having a CD out..." Ellingson reflected. "There are lots of bands that have put out three or four albums who haven't done some of the shows that we have, we've been very lucky."

The EP is an accomplishment, featuring a collection of songs that play beautifully while maintaining a strong sense of individuality. The music varies in tone and texture, from the lithe opener "Rain Of Gold" with its floating, ethnicsounding backdrop to "Let You Sleep Tonight," an optimistic closer that soars as its momentum gathers and bursts outward.

However it's more than passionate vocals and technical ingénue that unites the record, there's also clearly a meticulous production value in place, one that Ellingson credited to a trusting creative process between the trio.

"We've gone into songwriting being super democratic between the three of us," he explained. "If there's any debate, it comes down to a vote — the best thing about having three guys, having an odd number, is that if two guys like something and one doesn't, we go with it."

"We've learned to really trust each other and say, 'If two of us really believe in something, then there must be something there.' But most of the time in songwriting it's either unanimous or nobody, especially when we're first starting songs; unless everyone is really into it, we just ditch it."

"We all have totally different influences, and like different things, so we take the attitude that when something clicks with all three of us, there's a chance that other people will like it," said Ellingson. "That's why it's taken us two and a half years to put out a release, because it's been a process of weeding out what we don't want to present as a band. You start to learn to think as a unit."

Young Empires are kicking off a brief Canadian tour this week through February, leading into American dates and beyond in March. Additionally, the band is changing their dynamic — where once they would trigger and manipulate backing drum loops and samples on stage as a kind of band/DJ hybrid, they've now welcomed a drummer into the fold to produce a more natural sound.

"It's a little more organic than the record, but that's what we wanted. Now if you come and see us live, they're the same songs and the same energy but it's much more organic and interesting — we could play the same song five nights in a row and it feels different every night."

Wake All My Youth will be widely released on January 31, but the band will first be presented live by Half a Dino and APK Live on January 27. Doors open at 9 p.m. and tickets are $7, and this is a 19- plus show. For more on the band or to hear their single "Enter Through The Sun," visit their website at youngempires.com. For more on the show, visit apklive.com.