Laurence Pike

Laurence Pike is a prolific drummer/composer/producer and one Australia’s most respected creative musicians. He has released solo albums to critical acclaim and toured the world with his bands PVT (formerly Pivot), Triosk, Szun Waves and as a member of US/Aus savant-punk group LIARS.

Pike’s work explores the language of improvisation within disciplines, with an emphasis on listening, presence, and human experience through real time composition, drawing on a musical value system developed over two decades.

Equally at home in the worlds of rock, electronics, jazz and improvised music, he continues to work with his internationally acclaimed group and Warp Records alumni PVT, which has performed with the likes of Sigur Rós, Arctic Monkeys and Yellow Magic Orchestra. 2016 saw the release of Szun Waves’ debut album, At Sacred Walls, a collaboration with Luke Abbott on modular synthesiser and Portico Quartet’s Jack Wyllie on saxophone. It was followed by New Hymn To Freedom in 2018 and Earth Patterns in 2022.

Pike’s debut solo album was also released in 2018; originally conceived as a technological and spiritual jazz suite for drums, Distant Early Warning is a series of solo performances for kit and sampler recorded live in a single day. It was followed in 2019 by the acclaimed Holy Spring, which was thematically inspired by the pagan fertility myths of Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring. Prophecy (2020) was created during the height of Australia’s recent catastrophic fires, with the music channelling the moment through Pike’s singular, organic use of electronics, and intuitively constructed arrangements.

2024 sees the realisation of his most ambitious solo project yet. The Undreamt-of Centre is an evocative, contemporary reimagining of the requiem mass. The album draws on the sounds of modern classical music, Japanese environmental ambient music, fourth world electronics, free jazz and the choral traditions of Estonia. Featuring the VOX Sydney Philharmonia Choir, conducted by Pike’s childhood friend, composer Sam Lipman, the album was recorded in a 19th century Gothic church in Sydney.

Pike has produced and performed two acclaimed duo albums with legendary jazz pianist Mike Nock, is a member of Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders, records with award winning Australian singer/songwriter Sarah Blasko, and 4AD recording artist D.D Dumbo, and has collaborated with artists as diverse as Bill Callahan, Jan Jelinek, Charles Bullen (This Heat), Daniel Johns (Silverchair) and ECM recording artist Kit Downes.

“His solo work is a marvel, radiating the absolute confidence of a man in command of his instruments and making very difficult things seems inevitable. He creates a hyper-aware universe of constant, new, undefinable sound, that only he could make. He expresses himself through performance with a commitment that goes far beyond energy and will... Holy Spring is a mature and enthralling work that gives us real ritual. Ceremonies taken seriously that generate real power”
the Quietus