Trippin’ on the dancefloor

DANNY CORVINI
Sydney’s Pnau (aka Nick Littlemore and Pete Hayes) were one of the first Australian electronic bands to make the leap from the rave scene into the mainstream.

Their debut album Sambanova made a surprise rise to the top of the charts in 1999, only to be withdrawn from sale not long after due to its many uncleared samples (which wouldn’t have been noticed if the album had stayed underground).

Sambanova was re-released once their record label cleared the samples and they subsequently won an ARIA award for Best Dance Release. But then they had a personal falling out that lasted four years and Nick performed as Pnau with older brother Sam Littlemore in Pete’s place.

I was a kid back then. I was like 17, 18, 19 and was touring around the world and everything, says Nick down the line from his adopted home of London, where he’s friends with the likes of Elton John and DJ Darren Emerson.

My brother was in his late 20s and I needed that older brother kind of guidance.

But Pnau without Pete were never as successful, and there was the confusion as to why Pete appeared in the publicity shots but not on the stage.

It became clear that Pnau was Pete and Nick, and they needed to rekindle their friendship if they were going to get anywhere as artists.

It was probably about two years ago that we sat down and had our first serious chat in quite some time, Nick said.

We were both single and depressed at the time and the only thing that could change our lives was the music. If we want to succeed and we want to change our stars, we have to make music to do that. It’s the only thing we can rely on.

Nine years later and Pnau are riding high in the charts again with their third album, simply titled Pnau (2004’s Again was critically acclaimed but didn’t make much of a dint). It’s a massive departure from the disco-house pastiche of Sambanova, the singles highlighting their new sonic diversity: Baby features a chorus of singing children, Wild Strawberries is straight off an early 90s rave dancefloor and the new single Embrace, featuring guest vocalist Pip Brown of Ladyhawke, shows a level of emotion not heard before from the band.

Pnau also sees Nick becoming the band’s bona fide vocalist.

The first song I ever sang was Pony and it was probably about six years ago, he said.

I was really hungover and got up one morning and just sang this song from beginning to end, not having written anything down, and it just came out quite naturally.

I played it to some people and they just kind of freaked out and told me that I needed to concentrate on singing and all that sort of stuff. I always fronted the band and screamed when I got excited or whatever, but I never saw myself as a real singer.

The impending live shows will be a chance to see the elfin-ish Nick being just that.

I don’t wanna give too much away but I think it’s going to be a pretty big show, Nick said.

We’ve got a lot of costumes made and we’ve outlayed a lot of money and so we’re pretty much in receivership right now. But we’re not holding back. I wouldn’t miss out on these shows because we’re not going to be around for a long time.

info: Pnau play at the Hordern Pavilion in Moore Park alongside Operator Please and Sam La More (aka Sam Littlemore) on Friday 8 August.