Building a dance music empire with Nick Littlemore

We had a chat with one of Australia's pioneering electronic music artists, NICK LITTLEMORE (PNAU/EMPIRE OF THE SUN). He's been busy in his studio in LA working on lots of new music, including a new Empire of The Sun Album, Two Vines. PNAU is also set to release their first single in 4 years, ‘Chameleon’ featuring young Guyanese singer Shakira Marshall.

Best known for his involvement in iconic dance duos PNAU and The Empire of The Sun, Littlemore has always been at the forefront of Australia’s burgeoning electronic scene, having helped forge a landscape for dance to be elevated. Since then, we’ve seen big artists like FLUME to blow up on the global stage. Nick Littlemore said that he's always had a massive curiosity about what was happening internationally, saying, “When we were kids when we were making music, we always dreamt about overseas. The internet wasn’t really a thing, certainly not in music, or even finding out how people did stuff.”

Collective consciousness and communication have always been core values of Littlemore's musical works. “I think the essence of music is both the simplest and the most complex form of communication. So the idea that you’d be talking to all different people from different places and trains of thought is such a great one.”

Littlemore also went on to say that dance music has become “totally accessible and that kind of ups the game in terms of musicality.”

Littlemore has worked extensively in Australia as well as the States. He touched on the universal experience of making music, especially bedroom producers. "When you make music as your kind of full time thing, I don’t think it matters too much where you are, we’re all kind of living this alternate lifestyle." He felt that compared to Australia, the US music industry is noticeably larger, and more diverse. "You’re exposed to different media and different music over here, which is interesting. You spend time with a whole lot of different people from various places around the planet, especially here in Hollywood. It’s been great to meet different types of people," he said.

Littlemore was involved with some of the first few really formative big dance acts in Australia, crafting a unique style of rhythmic and almost hypnotic music. Aside from the core elements, the music they were creating was also highly emotionally charged. “I think the emotion through all of it has always driven it. The music made you feel something and preferably something good,” Littlemore reflected.

Littlemore explains the strong, primal appeal of dance music. “To me the energy of it, which runs through all of PNAU is very much primal, tribal kind of feeling.” Whereas Empire of the Sun “has always been more based on the colour and texture of it than the rhythm so much.”

Now, not only has he travelled the world with his music, but he's also since collaborated with some of the worlds most influential musicians, including one ELTON JOHN. Speaking on how that came to be, Littlemore said, "Music is amazing, it can connect you to things that you never would have even thought of or dreamed about. And I’m living proof."

However, Littlemore also still has a lot of respect for the early days, and how it all started. Early inspiration involved going out and experiencing the music. “You’d go to a warehouse parties as a teenager and there was this sort of chase to work out the sounds, and it really drove you wild.”

Things have changed a lot since then though, and the Sydney exists now, with lockouts, one can't help but wonder if the dance music phenomenon probably could have happened in the current landscape. Having found a niche for himself on the global stage, Littlemore expressed his delight about being able to live and work as musician "We’ve had so many fortunate turns of events in our career. It’s lovely, when you make music as your kind of full time thing."

“I think it’s ridiculous the way that this culture’s going, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s inhumane to not allow access to the live music and culture and art and happenings. I think it’s cool that an underground will develop and it will rise up, you can’t lock that out!”

Littlemore will also be releasing an album on Nov 11 as part of a new project THE TWO LEAVES PROJECT.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN's album, Two Vines, will be released October 28th. You can pick up your own copy HERE.

Catch EMPIRE OF THE SUN at FOMO Festival next year:

Friday 6 January | Adelaide Gaol, Adelaide

Saturday 7 January | Riverstage, Brisbane

Sunday 8 January |The Crescent, Parramatta Park, Sydney

Tix here

PHOTO: Zimbio

Words by Rosie Rae

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