It’s been a great year for Aussie artists making a splash overseas.
Some of the artists that have made the biggest waves internationally include the likes of Melbourne singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, the ‘Madchester’ channelling Jagwar Ma, and psych-rock exports Pond, as well as the recently Grammys-nominated Hiatus Kaiyote.
So while the UK and America have felt the biggest impact from the ongoing Aussie invasion, the latest act to make it big overseas has done so in a slightly different format and in a very different region of the world.
Sydney electronic duo PNAU are currently sitting at #1 and busting all kinds of charts in Germany, their current transatlantic domination arriving in the form of a track their reworks one of their older, familiar hits.
PNAU’s 2008 single ‘Baby’ has been given a smooth, saxophone-drenched makeover by French producer Faul. Originally a bootleg, the updated track – entitled ‘Changes’ – has stormed the German charts while going viral across Europe, including cracking 5 million plus views on popular YouTube channel The Sound You Need.
Now available in 72 countries, the PNAU-sampling single has scooped a number of high charting ranks on iTunes, including #1 on the German Electronic charts and Top 5 in 9 countries, while peaking at #2 on Germany’s Dance Charts, #4 on the German youth airplay charts, #5 on the country’s DJ charts, #19 on Spotify, as well as climbing the ranks in club and airplay rankings throughout France, Switzerland, and the UK.
The surprise international success also paves thew way for PNAU’s return in 2014, with the release of a new album and return to the dance music scene.
Peter Mayes and Nick Littlemore, the twosome that make up PNAU (and also form an integral part of electropop majors Empire Of The Sun), have been working steadily on a brand new studio album, due next year.
Working with producer Sam La More (aka Nick Littlemore’s older brother Sam) since May, the new record is set to feature the band’s first new material since 2011’s Soft Universe, but follows on from PNAU’s Elton John collaboration, 2012 album Good Morning To The Night, which remixed the British songwriter’s classic material into electronic anthems; fulfilling a long-held dream for the duo.
As well as new PNAU album, Nick Littlemore has previously noted that he and Mayes have begun pre-production on the next Empire of the Sun record, following on from this year’s ARIA-nominated Ice On The Dune LP.
“We feel like at the moment we just want to keep coming, keep coming thick and fast,” said Littlemore back in May. “We had a large hiatus… it took 18 months to make Ice On The Dune – [but] it feels now we’re at a kinda level that we don’t want to get down from. So it was understood that I would spend more time in the studio, then I’ll be flying in and out wherever Luke [Steele] is, and then we’ll be cutting tracks while he’s on the road and just keeping the energy levels up there,” he adds.
