Elton John vs Pnau is here

Way back in 2009, it was with a hint of bemusement that we reported Pnau dude Nick Littlemore had been hanging out with none other than Elton John. “We’re making a studio album with Elton John co-writing on some tracks,” one half of the local duo explained at the time. “We met Elton in Australia and his manager has now become our manager.”

Well, just in case you thought Nick Littlemore wasn’t being completely serious about working with Sir Elton, a good three years later definitive proof of the collaboration has finally arrived. The track Sad hit the web yesterday, taken from the forthcoming Elton John vs Pnau album (yes, “vs”) Good Morning to the Sun, which if you’re keen is due out July 16. But if you’re (understandably) a bit confused about how the collab’ is working, this is the deal: rather than Elton actually hopping in the studio with the duo, he’s given them his blessing to remix and reinterpret their choice of his entire back catalogue. Time for another hit of Candle in the Wind, perhaps?

As if the whole thing wasn’t weird enough already, Pnau and Elton will be performing tracks from the album at Ibiza’s Rocktronic Festival, where they’ll saddling up next to the somewhat-peculiar assembly of acts lead by Sting, Lenny Kravitz playing live with Cadenza boss Luciano (yep), Tiesto and many more. So, what do you make of the results?