Keralan by birth, raised in Newcastle and now based in West London, Anu Pillai is a cross cultural musical phenomenon – a multi instrumentalist, composer, producer and DJ. Equally at home scoring for strings and choir, composing cutting edge sound design, writing & producing a chart hit for a major label, or remixing a cutting edge electronic artist for Warp or Cocoon. It is this broad musical experience in an age of increasing micro specialisms that allows Anu to have a unique approach to the projects he takes on.
Although Anu’s interest in music for picture began in 1992, when he was commissioned to score a Carlton television documentary, it was not until leaving Cambridge University that this was re-awakened. A mutual friend put Anu and Logorhythm Music in touch, and Anu was soon on board. Following a stint in the office learning the production side of the business, Anu later displayed his talents as a writer, and by 1998 was working full time as an in house composer at Logorhythm, working on campaigns for Coca-Cola, Pringles, Renault, HSBC and Subaru.
After setting up on his own in 2001, Anu has gone on to soundtrack TV advertising spots in every musical style imaginable for some of the world’s largest brands including Nokia, Nike, Eurostar, Playstation, Royal Mail and X-Box amongst others. Anu also composed the entire Identity package for the BBC Asian Network, (which culminated in a nomination for the Sony Radio Awards) as well as several trails for BBC Local Radio & BBC Scotland.
At the same time Anu started to release records under the Freeform Five moniker, working his way into the premier league of remixers of the last ten years producing stunning reworkings for artists as diverse as N*E*R*D’, Brian Wilson, X-Press 2 & David Byrne, Jamie Lidell, Justin Timberlake, Felix Da Housecat and The Killers. He also wrote and produced the vocal remix of “Muscle Cars” by Mylo, helping to turn it into a hit on his Platinum debut album.
At the same time, you only have to look at the list of artists who have swapped mixes with Freeform Five to see the high regard in which they are held – Tiefschwarz, Radioslave, Alter Ego, Lindstrom, Mylo, M.A.N.D.Y, Switch, Ewan Pearson, Jackson & His Computer Band and Maurice Fulton to name a few.
He’s spent a small fortune offsetting his airmiles with DJ appearances at Fabric / The End / Ministry of Sound (London), Space / Manumission / Ibiza Rocks (Ibiza), Cocoon (Frankfurt), Watergate / Cookies / Week End (Berlin), Razzmatazz (Barcelona), D-Edge (Sao Paolo), Womb / Ageha / Unit (Tokyo), Rex / Social Club / Paris Paris (Paris), LAX (LA), and Lux (Lisbon) plus tours of Scandinavia, Australia, America, and all the major festivals, including Glastonbury, T in the Park, Benicassim and Pukkelpop. Anu has also released Freeform Five’s debut album ‘Strangest Things’ on Atlantic records, two massive DJ mix albums, ‘Bisous Bisous II’ & ‘Misch Masch’ and contributed to several of Kitsuné’s genre defining compilations.
His record label, Perspex Recordings, is dedicated to giving some of the planet’s most talented boundary breakers a vinyl-loving platform. Releases include Chicago legend Derrick Carter, French rock band ‘Jamaica’ (produced by Xavier from Justice) and Swedish auteur ‘The Subliminal Kid’ (producer of Fever Ray) along with reworks by like minded friends Gabriel Ananda, Riton, Tomboy (Who Made Who) & Riva Starr.
Now Anu has his eyes firmly on the future, working on the new Freeform Five album with other respected producers like Richard X and Paul ‘Phones’ Epworth, whilst also helping out old friends The Glimmers and Shinichi Osawa on their own full length sets.
Always one to keep pushing forward, Anu formed a new production partnership with old pal Roy Kerr called Kid Gloves. Kid Glove’s first gig was to write and produce some songs for Modular Record’s Ladyhawke including her breakthrough single ‘Paris Is Burning.’ This has led to writing and production on Little Boots’ gold selling debut (masterminding her collaboration with ‘Sir’ Phillip Oakey from The Human League), the single ‘Game Over’ for VV Brown and forthcoming singles for Atlantic’s hotly tipped Primary 1, Geffen’s Popjustice.com approved Sound of Arrows and pop renegade Roisin Murphy amongst others. They’ve even managed to cram in remixes for Santogold, Snow Patrol and Das Pop, and have a debut single of their own forthcoming on A-Trak’s super hip Fool’s Gold imprint.