Australian electronic group PNAU today unveil their new studio album Hyperbolic, their first LP since 2017’s mind-altering Changa. The album is packed with A-List collaborators including Khalid, Troye Sivan, Bebe Rexha, Empire of the Sun and more, and features four brand new tracks including new single ‘Nostalgia’. In the time since their last album release, the Aussie trio (Nick Littlemore, Peter Mayes, Sam Littlemore) have exploded onto the global stage with their Elton John & Dua Lipa recording ‘Cold Heart’ garnering billions of streams, picking up multiple award wins and nominations, and taking PNAU’s music to stratospheric heights. Now Hyperbolic shows the world the breadth of PNAU’s songwriting and production prowess, taking us from their origins in underground raves and clubs, all the way through to disco and pop-tinged anthems, but always with PNAU’s unmistakable dance floor sound at the core.
PNAU’s Nick Littlemore explains what fans can expect from Hyperbolic: “This will always be the LP after Changa; after the mind expansion, into the world once again seeking new champions. Since ‘Solid Gold’ we have been opened to a whole world of delights that when we began this journey we couldn’t have ever imagined.”
Peter Mayes from PNAU adds, “We’ve got a lot of new features on this album, definitely more than ever before. With what happened with ‘Cold Heart’, doors have opened to us in terms of opportunities to collaborate with people which has been a huge change for us. Working with people like Khalid is very inspiring. He’s incredible.”
New tracks on Hyperbolic include ‘All The Time’ which harks back to PNAU’s early sound, ‘Passion Flower’ which explores PNAU’s more indie leanings, ‘So High’ featuring incredible First Nations singer Emily Wurramara and new single ‘Nostalgia’. Also featured on the album are recent big-name collaborations like ‘The Hard Way’ with Khalid, ‘You Know What I Need’ with fellow Aussie Troye Sivan, ‘Stars’ with Bebe Rexha and Ozuna and recent single ‘AEIOU’ with Nick Littlemore’s other project, Empire of the Sun.
“‘All The Time’ is a really significant record for us because we made it with one of our closest friends from high school,” explains Nick. “He’s been through a lot and music has really been an anchor of hope. It doesn’t hurt that he is also brilliant. This track came together because of him, and we wanted to honour him by getting some of the best topliners in the world on the record like Jin Jin from London and Sarah Hudson and JHart from Los Angeles.” Peter adds, “It spanned the world this one. It’s really fun. It’s old school PNAU with the kids’ choir.”
Nick describes ‘So High’ as a “super special record”. Originally written with Irish singer Biig Piig, PNAU called on Australian singer-songwriter Emily Wurramara to sing on the record. “She collaborated lyrically as well, and I really think pulled it together.”
‘Passion Flower’ sees PNAU tapping into the vibes from their second album, Again. “In the making of Again we were exploring different styles, like what we’d be like as an indie band,” explains Nick. “We tapped into that indie feeling again with ‘Passion Flower’.” “An indie vibe but still really melodic,” adds Peter. ‘Passion Flower’ was co-written with UK songwriter Cleo Tighe (Clean Bandit, Rudimental, Charli XCX). “Sometimes you write these songs and the person who you wrote it with sings it so beautifully you’re like ‘great let’s do that’, so Cleo’s vocal is the one on the track.”
New single ‘Nostalgia’ was co-written with Swedish singer-songwriter KIDDO (Charli XCX, Lost Frequencies, Loud Luxury) and sees PNAU going back in time to their ‘90s rave influences. “‘Nostalgia’ is the new kid on the block; a new rave for all time,” explains Nick. “I think we have been chasing our ‘90s trance dreams and trying to recapture them and be young again. In the process of researching and finding those records from the dance floor back then, we found an old record called ‘The Space Track’ by Cosmic Boogie and we tried to capture that essence with a modern take on a topline.” Peter adds, “We are ‘90s children of the warehouse rave and that’s how ‘Nostalgia’ manifested.”
