http://eltonjohnnews.blogspot.com/2011/07/...on+John+News%29The album's key influence was ultimately Elton John, who Littlemore and Mayes met just after they relocated to London several years ago. The veteran superstar took the pair under his wing, signing them to his management company and, in essence, serving as the sounding board for Soft Universe.
Pnau would regularly fly out to wherever John was - whether Los Angeles, Orlando or New York - and play him their songs. In turn,
he has trusted the pair with the master recordings of his extensive back catalogue, with Pnau to rework various classics for a new collection."We felt like part of the family then,'' Littlemore says. ''It was very special.We've never had that kind of close, trusting relationship with someone else before."
Littlemore himself has undergone change. His work ethic - stamina, Elton John told him, is crucial to building a career - has outlasted his former taste for hedonism and he no longer even drinks alcohol because it affects medication prescribed for an arthritic condition. Alongside the "patient" Mayes, he's thinking two or three albums ahead, having penned a batch of songs with Elton John and also having returned to Empire of the Sun.
"We've [Empire of the Sun] written eight, we'll probably write 80 songs," Littlemore says. "Luke's coming back to New York in late September and we'll keep rolling along. Hopefully we'll get a house in Cambodia or somewhere and set up a studio there to record. We've got to beat what we've done - I feel every record has to beat the last record."
