Australian Electro Duo PNAU Reinvents Classic Elton John with New Album

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    While we all eagerly await Elton John‘s upcoming 31st album produced by T-Bone Burnett, it looks like we have an exciting little side project the multiple award-winner and “frenemy” to Madonna, to keep our ears happy this summer.  John has paired up with Australian electronica duo PNAU, for the release of Good Morning To The Night, a new album which sees PNAU re-inventing classic Elton John songs from the 1970 to 1976 era of his career.  While PNAU have had a successful career as a duo, it was their 2008 breakout side-project Empire Of The Sun which gained them the most international attention.  The new Elton John collaboration album, due on July 2nd, will be preceded by the album’s lead single (and title track), due June 25th, both via Mercury Records.


    PNAU, consisting of Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes, hail from Sydney and have known each other ever since bonding over Meat Beat Manifesto and Altern-8 when they were were both ten years old.  Setting up a makeshift studio in a shed in Nick’s back yard with an amp stolen from their school, the duo began making music together, soundtracking homemade Super 8 films.  The duo went on to achieve success after the release of their sophomore album, Sambanova, which won Dance Release of the Year at the ARIAs. Four years passed before their third album, Again appeared but it was their fourth, self-titled album another four years later that opened new doors for the band, including finding a fan in pop and rock legend Elton John.

    Elton John signed the pair after hearing something special in their 2008 album, PNAU and has been championing them ever since.  While, in the beginning, John took on a low key A&R role for the band’s debut UK album via Ministry of Sound, today that relationship has turned into something much more validating, a mentorship.  Nick explains what Elton’s support means to them:

    “To have had Elton’s support has been incredible. It’s about having an opportunity to exist in the world. Making music in Australia, it often feels like you don’t have any connection with the rest of the world.”

    In addition to having Elton John‘s blessing to reinterpret his classics, PNAU have also been granted access to a selection of John’s old masters, invaluable resources, especially if you’re looking to re-imagine some already unimaginably awesome material.  First single, “Good Morning To The Night” (due June 25th) is an almost unrecognizable reinvention of Elton’s 1972 classic “Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters.” The song, which first leaked, airing on Pete Tong‘s BBC Radio 1 show back in March, offers just a taste of what’s to come from this incredible-sounding project. 

    “Some of the songs on the album draw from as many as six different early Elton tracks and added loops, samples and their own material, creating an altogether revolutionary new style of music reinterpretation. “

    It’s hard to believe that Elton John is still going strong, with a career that has spanned more than five decades.  He remains one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, achieving 35 gold and 25 platinum albums, 29 consecutive US Top 40 hits, more than 250 million records sold worldwide, and the record for biggest selling single of all time (“Candle in the Wind ’97“).  Since his career began back in 1969, Elton John has played over 3,000 concerts worldwide.  This summer, during his European tour, Elton will make an appearance in Ibiza to promote his PNAU collaboration and the first single, “Good Morning To The Night.”  

    Listen to “Good Morning To The Night” and check out the album’s track listing BELOW and look out for some hot Cahill remixes of the single hopefully out soon.

    Track Listing:

    Good Morning To The Night:   Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:
    – Philadelphia Freedom
    – Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
    – Funeral for a Friend
    – Tonight
    – Gulliver/It’s Hay Chewed
    – Sixty Years On (Live in Australia)
    – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
    – Someone Saved my Life Tonight

    Sad:Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:– Nice and Slow
    – Crazy Water
    – Curtains
    – Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word
    – Friends

    Black Icy Stare:
     Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:– Cold Highway
    – You’re So Static
    – Solar Prestige a Gammon 

    Foreign Fields:
    Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:– Pinky
    – Someone Saved My Life Tonight
    – High Flying Bird
    – Sweet Painted Lady
    – Cage the Songbird
    – Chameleon 

    Telegraph to the Afterlife:
    Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:– Harmony
    – We All Fall in Love Sometimes
    – Funeral for a Friend
    – Sweet Painted Lady
    – I’ve Seen That Movie Too
    – Love Song
    – Indian Sunset

    Phoenix:
    Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:– Grey Seal
    – Are You Ready for Love
    – Benny and the Jets
    – Someone Saved My Life Tonight
    – Where to Now St Peter?
    – Love Lies Bleeding
    – Border Song
    – Country Love Song
    -Three Way Love Affair 

    Karmatron: Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:– Madman Across The Water
    – Funeral for a Friend
    – Stinker
    – The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)
    – Tonight
    – One Horse Town
    – Screw You 

    Sixty:
    Includes Elements from the following original Elton John Sound Recordings:
    – Sixty Years On
    – Sixty Years On (Live in Australia)
    – Sixty Years On (Live 17-11-70)
    – Indian Sunset

    Check out Elton vs. Pnau on the web: