Leaving Laurel

Leaving Laurel have announced their sophomore album ‘when the quiet comes’ will land May 19 via Anjunadeep, with the first single ‘one last thing you never said’ out now. The announcement marks a new chapter for band members Gordon Huntley and Griff Fulton following the difficult loss of Pierce Fulton, whose talent and passion were immortalised in Leaving Laurel’s acclaimed self-titled 2020 debut album.

There is a unique songwriting process central to ‘when the quiet comes’; a reflective record awash with warm piano, inviting textural percussion, and delicate melodies. As Huntley discovered recordings laid down by himself and Pierce years prior, he was driven to continue what they had started. Like seeds planted in the winter, forgotten musical ideas emerged and flourished, providing a cathartic sense of closure for Huntley and a new musical beginning for the band: “Who do we become when we’re alone? When the story is over, and we've acknowledged the silence - that's when the quiet comes.

Making this record was my search to find purpose after Pierce passed. It was a light to show me a way forward. A way for me to grieve, a way for me to hold onto the memories. A eulogy to my friend.

This is the album I always hoped Pierce and I would make together one day. It's my attempt to continue the dream we had, to take what we had started with our first album to a secret place beyond the club. To make a soundtrack for the moments where everything stands still. A record that could showcase the culmination of every unique influence we shared as friends. A record that could be important enough to outlive us both. A record that I hope would have made him proud.

It’s the hardest I’ve worked on anything in my entire life, and the proudest I've ever been of any music I've made. If the road for leaving laurel were to end here, I know I gave it my all. I created something with the pieces of what Pierce and I had started, and it feels like the most honest album I could show to the world.”

Gordon Huntley

A tale of two old friends, Gordon and Pierce, Leaving Laurel connected the duo musically for the first time after being close friends for almost a decade. Since their debut release in 2020, the duo have garnered a fervent fanbase and widespread support. Their recently released EP, ‘fireflies (for as far as we could see)’, received an overwhelmingly warm reception from fans and tastemakers alike, including Black Coffee, Sultan + Shepard and David Hohme, as well as further radio support from BBC Radio 1 and SiriusXM.