Pnau is an Australian dance music duo originating from Sydney, Australia. The
duo consists of musicians Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes. The pair
have achieved multiple successes throughout their career with their
award-winning debut album Sambanova, their widely acclaimed 2007 release
Pnau, their breakthrough side-project Empire of the Sun, and their multiple
chart-topping singles. Pnau is also recognized for their heavily publicized
apprenticeship under musician Elton John, who signed the duo after listening
to their record Pnau. Several of Pnau's recent projects have featured John's
involvement, such as Pnau's album Soft Universe and an album featuring Pnau
recreations of Elton John's hits called Good Morning to the Night.
Biography Pnau formed in Sydney, New South Wales
by Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes. The two met at secondary school and began
performing together in the mid-1990s, initially playing acid, house music, and
trance music. Littlemore recalled meeting Mayes when he was 10; "He
tripped me over. We hated each other for a couple years and then we started
sneaking out and going to raves when we were about 13 and we formed a bond over
intense music." Littlemore and Mayes created their first album when they were
in their mid-teens. "It was called Fractured Geometric Spaces Made of
Light," Littlemore remembers, "Which is probably why it was never picked up."
In 1999, Pnau officially released their debut album Sambanova under the
independent label Peking Duck. It was recorded in a bedroom studio and they
only expected to sell a few thousand copies. The album turned out to be a
surprise success when it won Best Dance Release at the ARIA Music Awards. A week
later, however, the album was pulled from record stores for using uncleared
samples. In a 2003 interview with The Age, Mayes recalled that they had no
understanding of sample clearances due to their naïveté in the music business.
Mayes claimed that the album's recall did seriously affect their commercial
sales. Littlemore later contested "They screwed us over for $300,000. Warners
didn't; another third party did. But that happens. We're still here, we're
still doing it." In subsequent years Pnau went on to make
many live appearances at music festivals like Big Day Out in 2001 and Homebake in
2002. During this time, they garnered a reputation for their lively
performances. Amidst this era, Pnau released their second album, Again in
2003. The album was not a commercial success and Littlemore was later quoted
as Again being "the worst record I’ve ever done". Littlemore has since
retracted the statement. When asked if he still considered Again to be his
worst record, Littlemore responded, "Well next to [Soft Universe]. They're
sort of on par." Littlemore further explained that a lot of his opinion is
formed around the albums' commercial success, which is an easy headspace for
him to get into since "everyone loves Empire of the Sun, it's sold 1.1 million
records." Despite the seemingly unfavorable album response, several
tracks received considerable acclaim - the most noteworthy being We Love The
Fresh Kills which was a significantly popular single for the duo at the time.
However, because of Again's lackluster success the pair parted ways for some
time to work with other artists such as Robbie Williams, Van She, and Lost
Valentinos. When the two reunited in 2007 they wrote
over two-hundred songs together and started to lay down an entire album with
Nick Littlemore's brother Sam Littlemore as producer. They sent a
work-in-progress track to long-time friend and collaborator Luke Steele, who
sent back the track with his own vocals. After receiving the track, the
Littlemore brothers and Mayes agreed to scrap almost everything they had laid
down to focus on a more vocally centered album. The track became known as With
You Forever and the finalized album was released under the self-titled name
Pnau. The album not only featured vocal work from Luke Steele and Nick
Littlemore himself, but also had many guest appearances such as Ladyhawke,
Feadz, Nik Yannika from Lost Valentinos and Michael DeFrancesco from Van She.
The album was released to high critical acclaim and gained unexpected favorable
attention from Elton John, declaring it to be the greatest record he'd heard in
ten years. Inspired by their track "With You
Forever", Pnau began work on a collaboration with Luke Steele.
Originally titled Steelemore, Empire of the Sun made its debut on 4 October 2008
with Walking on a Dream. Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele took the roles of
bandmates, while Peter Mayes assumed the role of producer. Some critics were
quick to note that the band sounded more like a work of Pnau than Luke Steele's
band The Sleepy Jackson. Empire of the Sun has achieved international success
having been certified 2x platinum in Australia and gold in the United
Kingdom, as well as winning eleven ARIA awards. Pnau makes it clear on their
Myspace numerous times that not only is Empire of the Sun a side project of
theirs, but that they are also the producers. Regarding Empire of the Sun,
in early 2009 news began appearing that Nick Littlemore had disappeared. The
reality had been that Nick Littlemore had left Empire of the Sun to begin work
on the fourth Pnau album along with Elton John.
In 2010, the track "Baby" appears in the release of Sony Computer Entertainment's
"Gran Turismo 5", in the Background Music playlist.
In 2011 Pnau released their fourth studio album Soft Universe. Littlemore
has described it as a very "emotional" album, inspired by the breakup with his
long-time girlfriend. With input from Elton John, the album features
Littlemore singing all the vocals on the album along with tracks co-written with
fellow Aussie artist Martin Craft and producer Mark Saunders. The album was
positively received, although mainly critics expressed discontent with the
lack of the "endearing weirdness of previous Pnau and Empire releases." The
Soft Universe album received the Australian Independent Record Award for
Best Independent Dance/Electronica Album.
On 10 March 2012, the first remix track from the anticipated, upcoming Elton
John rework album commissioned for Pnau was leaked, initially airing on Pete
Tong's BBC Radio 1 broadcast. It was also revealed the remix album would
feature eight tracks and was set for an April 2012 release.
On the 2 June 2012, Good Morning to the Night was released, reaching number 1 in
the UK national singles charts. Pronunciations
One accepted pronunciation of Pnau is "pah-now". The name is commonly accented
to simulate the sound of a gunshot. Nick Littlemore explained the name was the
result of an instance when he was speaking in tongues. After shouting
gibberish for half an hour, Littlemore decided Pnau would be an appropriate
band name. Another theory on the pronunciation,
according to one interview with the pair, is "pah-nyeow". The group has on
other occasions explained that the name "rhymes with meow".
Awards In 2000 they won an ARIA Award for Best
Dance Release. The song "Wild Strawberries" placed at
No. 100 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2007
The song "Embrace" placed at No. 12 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2008
The song "Baby" placed at No. 54 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2008
The album "Soft Universe" received Best Independent Dance/Electronica Album at
the Australian Independent Record Awards, 2011
The song "The Truth" placed No. 80 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2011
Discography = Studio albums =
= Extended plays = Need Your Lovin' Baby
Enuff Enuff Wild Strawberries EP
= Singles = As lead artist
As featured artist References
External links Official website
Pnau Interview with Alchemy SBS Radio 2008-04-30
"Pnau and then", The Age, 17 October 2003
Discogs entry for Pnau Video from the PNAU live in France for
the before of the Trans Musicales festival
Review of Good Morning to the Night