Punctual are a production duo consisting of John Morgan and Will Lansley, born John Nicholas Ealand Morgan and William Martyn Morris Lansley. Their 2020 single, "I Don't Wanna Know", charted at No. 83 on the UK Singles Chart, and their 2023 single, "On & On", charted at No. 30 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. They also produced Raye and Rudimental's "Regardless" and Jason Derulo's "Acapulco", which charted at numbers 37 and 65 on the UK Singles Chart respectively.

Life and career

John Nicholas Ealand Morgan and William Martyn Morris Lansley^[1] grew up in Newbury, Berkshire, and met as teenagers^[2] after being introduced by a friend with whom both were independently making music with, first meeting in a bedroom making music together.^[3] Both attended the University of Bristol.^[4] In 2016, the pair released "Eva", their debut single,^[5] which featured a manipulated voice sample and a B-side track, "Fix".^[6] A music video was released for the former in January 2017.^[7] They then moved to South London, and in July 2017, the pair released "What I Love" alongside a music video shot on various housing estates in South London, which ended with a long panning shot of the London skyline.^[8] In September 2017, the pair released "Fading Youth" alongside a video and an EP,^[9] which featured "What I Love",^[10] and in July 2018, they released "King Without a Crown", which featured Skinny Living and Kid Ink.^[11] In July 2019, they released "Anything (For Your Love)",^[12] and the following month, they released "Don't Take It Personal" featuring Malika.^[13]

In July 2020, they released a cover of the Mario Winans song "I Don't Wanna Know" after flicking through old R&B acapellas and discovering his,^[14] which charted at No. 83 on the UK Singles Chart,^[15] and in November 2020, Raye and Rudimental released "Regardless",^[16] which Punctual produced,^[3] and which charted at No. 37 on the UK Singles Chart.^[17] They then released "The Step" with Nabiha, which sampled Missy Elliott's "I'm Really Hot",^[3] and "Smoke Ring", which they co-wrote with Gez O'Connell and Jordan Riley,^[18] the former of Ritual.^[19] In July 2021,^[20] they and Aluna Francis of AlunaGeorge released "Summer of Love",^[21] an attempt by Francis to relay the emotions she was feeling about 2021,^[20] and in September 2021, Jason Derulo released "Acapulco",^[22] which was produced by Punctual,^[23] and charted at No. 65 on the UK Singles Chart.^[24] In March 2022, they, TCTS, and Raphaella released "Love Me or Lie", a song Raphaella wrote during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom about mixed signals received at the beginning of a relationship and recorded in her makeshift home studio in her parents' living room;^[25] in an interview with Notion, TCTS stated he approached Punctual with the idea after producing a remix of "I Don't Wanna Know".^[26]

In April 2022, they released "We Could Have It All",^[27] which Raphaella and Sarah Close wrote the melodies for,^[2] and in March 2023, they, Armin van Buuren, and Alika released "On & On", which charted at No. 30 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart,^[28] and appeared on van Buuren's album Feel Again.^[29] In July 2023, their song "Do It All Again" charted at No. 60 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart.^[15] The pair then co-wrote Nonô's "Domingo", a song about falling for people not from Latin America, with her and Henry Tucker, hook and melody first; after being asked to expand it by the label, Nonô and Tucker wrote a second verse and had Punctual produce the song.^[30] A video was later released for the song.^[31]

Artistry

A July 2019 interview with Disco Mix Club stated that the pair cite Flume, Kaytranada, Calvin Harris, and Basement Jaxx as influences,^[12] while in a February 2021 interview with Dancing Astronaut, they cited Riton, Rüfüs Du Sol, and Basement Jaxx.^[3]

References