Nothing hyperbolic about it: Pnau’s success in the wake of Cold Heart remix
‘Since meeting Sir Elton, a lot of aspects of my professional life have not felt really real; they’ve been touched or graced by some irresistible force,’ said Nick Littlemore of Sydney dance act Pnau.
Not many acts can afford to wait seven years between album releases, even while performing occasionally as dancefloor-filling drawcards at festivals here and abroad.
According to Nick Littlemore of ARIA Award-winning Sydney dance music trio Pnau, though, there’s a good reason it took a while to complete its sixth album, Hyperbolic.
“Within the band, there’s been an implosion of sorts, because halfway through making this album, we had a hit – the size of which very few acts have ever known,” he said.
That might sound hyperbolic, too, but he’s right: Littlemore is referring to Cold Heart, a remixed Elton John song featuring pop singer Dua Lipa. Released in 2021, it topped the chart in 13 countries, and its Spotify play count is approaching two billion streams.
Cold Heart became an unexpectedly poignant highlight on the British singer-songwriter’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, too: at his final Australian concert in January last year, Elton played the remix over the PA while he sat at his piano and watched the crowd singing and dancing as one.
“It feels so good to have a No.1 around the world at 75,” Elton told the crowd at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium with undisguised glee, and he thanked his “Australian buddies Pnau” for their help in making it happen.
For the trio – which is completed by Peter Mayes and Littlemore’s elder brother, Sam – this collaboration was no mere flash in the pan: in 2012, Pnau remixed an album of early Elton John songs to form completely new works, resulting in an eight-song set titled Good Morning to the Night.
“Since meeting Sir Elton, a lot of aspects of my professional life have not felt really real; they’ve been touched or graced by some irresistible force,” said Littlemore, 45, at his home in Los Angeles.
Of Hyperbolic, which will be released on Friday, he said: “I think the record, if you look at it chronologically, does bear witness to a fledgling, middling dance act, who then went through a stratospheric change – and then opportunities arose from said peak.”
Its guest vocalists include Troye Sivan, Khalid and Ladyhawke, as well as Luke Steele, Littlemore’s collaborator in platinum-selling electronic duo Empire of the Sun, which has issued three albums since 2008.
Now 30 years into a career that began in his teens, the songwriter and producer remains thrilled by the prospect of unseen surprises.
“I’m always looking ahead, and I think it’s part of the reason we’ve had longevity: we’re always looking for the new thing, even if it’s going to be seven years away from an album,” said Littlemore with a laugh.
“I don’t commemorate ‘release week’ that much; I just try and roll with it,” he said. “It’s a really cool accolade, because it’s like another book on your shelf, or another part of your kingdom that you’ve created in the sky, or however you want to see it. I love that, but I really want to keep focusing on making records, keeping going, and seeing what’s out there. What’s next?”
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