PNAU Hosted A Reddit AMA And It Was Predictably Wild
Nick Littlemore talked life, drugs, death, the universe and everything else.
Nick Littlemore of PNAU doesn’t do anything by halves.
That’s obvious from the music he makes with that acclaimed duo, which is loud and maximalist. And it’s also obvious from his very recent Reddit AMA, a conversation that is full of references to “hyperspace”.
The Reddit session was ostensibly designed to plug the band’s new single, ‘Lucky’. A glassy collection of synths with a typically PNAU chorus, the song’s a banger, and could have been discussed for hours.
But that wasn’t what Redditors were interested in. Nope, for the large part, the PNAU-heads who flocked to the site wanted to talk psychedelics, and the meaning of life itself.
Asked what he considers to be the meaning of life, for instance, and how psychedelics and his art help him understand the universe, Littlemore said this:
“Every time I think I know anything about how the universe this reality or any other things work then I step back into Hyperspace and I am completely confused all over again! I think for me it’s about seeking and keeping the search going.
“I think that deep parallels between the use of psychedelics and creativity exist not to say that you need one for the the other to exist but there’s similar pursuit. Stepping into the darkness, surrendering to an unknown outcome.”
Later, Littlemore was asked something of a practical question about the future he has planned for PNAU and for his other band, Empire of the Sun.
“Actually working on Empire right now, some cool things I am really excited about,” Littlemore wrote.
“I can’t see when we’re going to release or Luke and I will be able to get into a room together to do things I have an auto immune disease so I can’t really fraternise right now. But there are loads of musicians I am working with all over the world, and for the most part we just jump on a phone call for a bit and send a few emails and things come together nicely.”
He also revealed PNAU are working with Sir Elton John again, who they’d previously collaborated with on the album Good Morning To The Night. “We are pushing deeper cuts and harder grooves working with Elton’s later ‘70s work and much of the ‘80s material also,” Littlemore wrote. “We are beyond thrilled to have this incredible opportunity once more.”
At one point, the chat also turned to mortality, and Littlemore’s recent health scare. Asked as to his current wellbeing, the man answered honestly. “My health is OK and it’s getting better all the time,” he wrote.
“Last year was actually a bit of a scare and it shook me up both physically and mentally. But I feel like all these things come as a challenge and we must rise to such challenges with love and positivity. And I say that trying to convince myself of that to a certain extent, in my darker moments, but as a general rule I always follow the light.
“I try to remember when I’m in a spiral that it’s not my natural state but a transient pattern moving through, something I’m far from mastering.”
Basically, the whole thing very much deserves your time — read through it here.