Bill Laurance & Michael League – Keeping Company, 180g

“Keeping Company” captures the essence of more than 20 years of close collaboration between two kindred spirits – pianist Bill Laurance and Michael League on oud and fretless bass. And it is something like the antithesis of the multi-Grammy award-winning band Snarky Puppy, which brought them both to worldwide fame. As a duo, Laurance and League prove to be masters of atmosphere and dark, shimmering timbres, refined songwriters with a fine sense for clear, memorable melodies and improvisers who are so familiar with each other that it only takes a few notes to tell stories together.

The album continues the concept of its highly acclaimed predecessor “Where You Wish You Were” from 2023: influences from the entire Mediterranean region between North Africa and Southern Europe, American folk and jazz combine to create atmospheric chamber music without borders. Bill Laurance and Michael League developed the ideas for Keeping Company while driving for hours on a tour of Europe, playing in some of the continent’s most beautiful concert halls. The songs are a direct result of the nocturnal musical life in these surroundings.

Their development as a duo is based on respect, understanding and trust in each other, both in the studio and on stage. Their second album shows a more mature quality of songwriting, this time fully committing to a live approach with little to no overdubs, while having a stronger sense of freedom and personality in performance. Keeping Company is a representation of the duo in a naked state, pure and unclouded by the usual perfectionism that tends to dominate the recording process. Under the advice of producer friend Nic Hard, the duo opted to keep overdubs to an absolute minimum and actually make a live album where chemistry dominates over production. These songs were created to be played by two hands. Keeping Company captures exactly that, and nothing more.