Bill Laurance and Michael League: Downtempo State of Mind

Over 20 years into their friendship, Bill Laurance and Michael League are finding new freedom. First meeting by chance as sidemen on a one-off gig in Leeds in the early 2000s, the keyboard and bass-playing pair soon realised a kindred musical spirit and went on to found maximalist jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy. Ten albums, five Grammys and countless sold out arena shows later, the duo have begun to explore a different side to their collaboration. “We’re used to having all the bells and whistles on our tunes, so we were surprised to discover another dimension to working as a duo,” pianist Laurance says. “When we got together, we found ourselves playing quietly, not trying to fill the space and making sure that nothing else got in the way of the music. We were free to see where the songs took us and we began playing music the way we’ve always wanted to.”

Initially playing a series of duo shows in 2021 as a tentative step out of the pandemic-enforced pause in international touring, the pair started writing new material together with Laurance on piano and League on oud and electric bass, before heading to League’s home studio in Spain and producing the meditative 11 tracks of their 2023 debut, Where You Wish You Were.

“I grew up noodling on the oud since my brother played it and in 2016 I began studying the instrument more intensively,” League says. “It can play lead, bass and harmonics, which frees Bill up to do the same at any moment – its fretlessness allows our pieces together to be lyrical. It also means nothing we do is ever in tune! But that in itself creates an interesting width of sonic palette and pitch.”

The album is a masterwork in expressive quietude, highlighting the melodic twang of the oud on tracks like ‘La Marinada’ as Laurance comps intricately on keys, while other compositions like ‘Saint Esteve’ plumb a downtempo, lower-register introspection on both instruments, and ‘Ngoni Baby’ hints at a livelier rhythm without ever breaking from the pair’s whispered intimacy.

“We were surprised that people responded so well to the tender space of the record and its economy of composition,” Laurance says. “But it wasn’t until we began playing it live that the dynamic between us really came together. Initially, I was overcompensating for the lack of drums by filling the space but I soon realised what was required of me was the opposite – the more space you leave, the more powerful it is.”

With only the two of them on tour throughout the UK and Europe for three weeks in 2023, rather than the usual dozen or more members of Snarky Puppy, Laurance and League had plenty of time during car and train journeys to new venues to honestly dissect the previous night’s performance as well as think further on what they wanted to achieve in their musical partnership.

“We realised that we wanted to lean into the vulnerability of it just being the two of us onstage,” Laurance says. “We wanted to resign ourselves to the moment and let it guide us. By the end of the tour we were accessing those states of mind and communicating on a higher plane.”

“When it’s just the two of you, there’s nothing to hide behind and you have to be 100% listening 100% of the time,” League adds. “It’s the most challenging group I play in but also so rewarding.” He describes his two decades working with Laurance as marked out by their shifting hierarchies, either with League as the bandleader in Snarky Puppy and Laurance acting as a calm band member, or vice versa when Laurance led his own groups and would set the tone with League as a sideman.

“We went a decade where neither of us wanted to upset the other, but we realised we have to say if something isn’t working when we’re just a duo and we’ve learned to be less precious about it,” League says. “Our friendship has grown a lot deeper since we’ve challenged each other to be better people constantly.”

Despite being both on video calls from different countries, with Laurance speaking in London and League from his home in Spain, that warmth and trust shines through as they both leave room for the other to speak, listening attentively to their respective responses.

“The second album was therefore just an evolution of our relationship and faith in each other,” League says. “It represents the freedom we’ve found in playing together and it captures the live atmosphere. It’s just us in the room, enjoying one another’s company.”

With the writing process for their second album beginning while on the 2023 tour, the pair honed their ideas during a week-long writing residency in Uruguay before heading to League’s studio to capture the freedom and intimacy of their musical communication.

“Since we felt more emboldened after the first record, the new writing covers a lot more styles and I think it has a lot more personality,” Laurance says. “We were looking for sounds we haven’t explored yet with only two pairs of hands and in the studio we’d do two or three takes, have a break and then come back to it, aiming to capture the mood of a song in its most honest state. A few of those takes came after a visit to the local bar! But we were always looking for a looseness that conveys sincerity rather than perfection.”

Across the 11 tracks of the ensuing album, Keeping Company, Laurance and League certainly access that vulnerability they were searching for on tour, as well as journeying into new compositional territory. Tracks like 'You' feature the soft sounds of breath and gentle vocalisations behind Laurance’s deeply moving, downtempo playing, while 'Escher' playfully ascends in a fractal loop like the artist’s confounding drawings, 'Where You Wanna Go', meanwhile, touches on a Robert Glasper-referencing soul melody, and 'Trails' transforms from plaintive chords to a deeply swung funk groove. Throughout, the duo somehow produce a remarkably expansive range of sounds while delving deeper into the spaces between the notes.

“Our co-producer Nic Hard didn’t want any overdubs or doubling, so we left in all the peripheral sounds of breathing, feet tapping on the floor and even laughter,” League says. “It adds a certain charm of feeling like you’re sitting in the room with us and it’s much more organic. We’re both work horses and perfectionists who are happy being in the studio for 10 hours dissecting the same solo, so the hardest thing on this album was simply to leave things alone and allow the essence of the moment to shine.”

Two albums into their collaboration, it might feel as if the duo are approaching the limits of where their creativity can take them, but Laurance and League argue the opposite.

“We’ve only just opened the door into what we’re capable of and it feels like we could make five more just as a duo and never stop exploring,” League says.

“We’ll be doing this forever,” Laurance adds. “We’re throwing ideas around for another record which would feature a guest on each track to join the two of us, as well as potentially working alongside an orchestra. The potential is limitless.”.