Hannah Peel
Hannah Mary Peel (born 27 August 1985 in Craigavon) is a Northern Irish artist, producer and composer. Peel's solo music is primarily electronic, synthesiser based and often includes classical scoring and sound design, with references to the links between science, nature and music. She has scored music for television, film, theatre and dance, including Game of Thrones: The Last Watch (a special documentary).
Hannah Peel | |
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 Peel in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Hannah Mary Peel |
| Born | 27 August 1985 |
| Origin | Craigavon, Northern Ireland |
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| Associated acts | The Magnetic North, John Foxx and the Maths |
| Website | hannahpeel |
As well as her solo work, Peel has worked with collaborators on projects including orchestrations and conducting for Paul Weller, and an album with the Faber poet Will Burns, and is a member of the psychogeography indie rock group The Magnetic North and the electronic group John Foxx and the Maths.
She has released solo records on her own imprint label, My Own Pleasure Records, including Awake but Always Dreaming[1] and Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia / Particles in Space. Awake but Always Dreaming[2] was released by My Own Pleasure Records, on 23 September 2016 and was awarded "#1 Electronic Album of the Year 2016" by Electronic Sound Magazine.
Her most recent album Chalk Hill Blue is a spoken word and electronic music collaboration with the poet Will Burns. It was released in March 2019 on Rivertones.
In May 2016, in Manchester, Peel premiered her new analogue synth-based, space-age alter-ego "Mary Casio" with an experimental piece combining analogue electronics and a 33-piece colliery brass band. The album Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia was released in July 2018.
Early life
Peel was born in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, on 27 August 1985.[3] When she was eight years old, her family moved to Barnsley in South Yorkshire. Her father was an amateur folk musician, and she joined him in musical gatherings, including holidays in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland.[4] She enrolled in the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts at age 18. There, she studied violin, trombone and piano. She participated as a session musician for fellow student Sandi Thom before graduating and moving to London to pursue a career in music.[3]
Music career
Performer/orchestral arranger/session musician
Hannah Peel has performed, collaborated and released records with the following artists: Beyond the Wizards Sleeve (Erol Alkan and Richard Norris), East India Youth, Wild Beasts, John Foxx, Blue Roses, Erland and the Carnival, Tunng, Philippe Cohen Solal Nitin Sawhney, The Unthanks, Gawain Erland Cooper, Tommy McLaughlin, David Ford, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Duke Special, Blood Red Shoes, Diagrams, Rhodes, LUMP, Rae Morris. Jim Moray and Jinnwoo, Paul Weller, Blancmange.
Awake But Always Dreaming
Released in 2016 Awake But Always Dreaming (voted "No. 1 Album Of the Year" in Electronic Sound Magazine) was written in response to Peel witnessing her Grandmother living with dementia yet 'awakening' when listening and singing music together. An electronic and cross acoustic album, the track listing follows a cycle of songs about hope, love and affection before entering into the world in which Peel felt her grandmother was living in. Music and sounds are echoed with the loss of communication, short term and eventually long term memory, confusion, disorientation and loneliness. The last track on the album, "Cars in the Garden", is a cover of The Blue Nile singer Paul Buchanan's song from his 2012 solo album Mid Air. Peel created a music box version of the song which she sings with fellow fan of The Blue Nile, Hayden Thorpe from the band Wild Beasts.
Peel has spoke frequently across all press and radio on the importance of music and the mind and has featured on panels at Cheltenham Science Festival, Wellcome collection on BBC Radio 6, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3. In 2016 The Guardian featured Peel in an article entitled 'Awakenings - Hannah Peel on how she harnessed Musics Power to Cut Through Dementia'.
Awake But Always Dreaming was nominated for a Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2017 in the best album category.
Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia
Released in 2017 following a 2016 commission to write a piece for Colliery Brass Band and electronics to accompany Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, the album explores one person’s journey to outer space, by recounting the story of an unknown, elderly, pioneering, electronic musical stargazer and her lifelong dream to leave her terraced home in the mining town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, to see Cassiopeia for herself.
With a posthumous nod to once forgotten pioneering female British electronic artists like Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram, and artwork by Grammy Award winning designer Jonathan Barnbrook, Peel not only quickly sold out of all original pressed vinyl and CD’s but celebrated in her biggest venue to date with a sold out synth and brass band show in the newly refurbished Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
Several other shows took place in the United Kingdom, including performances in July 2017 as part of PRS Foundation's New Music Biennial Festival as part of Hull Capital of culture and at the Southbank Centre in London.
Recorded live on location in the Barnsley Civic Theatre with Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios team, it features Tubular Brass, the championship colliery brass band players and Peel’s grandfather from 1927 in Manchester Cathedral on one of the first recordings made of a choir boy.
Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia was nominated for a Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2018 in the best album category.
Particles in Space released in June 2018 is a companion album to Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia. It features 7 collaborations with emerging artists from Northern Ireland, France, Japan and Scotland reworking the original musical stems. All featured artists are engineers, producers and independent artists like Peel, releasing with small independent labels or self-releasing material themselves.
Scores, TV and Film
In 2013, Peel won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Title Music for "Chloe", which had been featured in the British television series Dates.[10] The track was individually adapted and rescored for each episode of the series. In February 2014, Peel released the EP Fabricstate which includes "Chloe". The artwork for the EP was created by Karborn and designed by Jonathan Barnbrook.
In 2016, Peel composed the music for Alzheimers Research UK's television and online Christmas campaign, entitled Santa Forgot, and made in collaboration with Aardman Animations.
In 2018, Peel composed the title music to the BBC drama The A List produced by Kindle Entertainment. She also wrote the title music and composed additional scores for the Channel 4/Netflix series Kiss Me First. Also in 2018, Peel met Paul Weller through producer and co-songwriter Gawain Erland Cooper. She arranged strings and woodwind for his 2018 album True Meanings. Following the release, Peel orchestrated and conducted a small orchestra for his 2019 live album Other Aspects: Live at the Royal Festival Hall which featured songs from True Meanings, The Jam, Style Council and Weller's solo material.
In 2019, Peel scored her first feature-length film score to the documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch.
In 2020, Peel scored the soundtrack for the Channel 5 drama The Deceived written by Lisa McGee.[5]
Theatre and Dance
In 2018, Peel composed a score featuring synths, live percussion and drums for a new, theatrical adaptation of Brighton Rock by the Pilot Theatre Company. The production toured the UK between February and May 2018. Also in that year, working primarily on music box, Peel created several hand-punched pieces of music for the score to TeZukA about the life of manga artist Osamu Tezuka by the choreographer and dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
In 2012, Peel co-composed the music for the Sadler's Wells Theatre production Compass, working alongside filmmaker and visual artist Tal Rosner and collaborating with choreographers from the Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Company, the Pina Bausch Company, and Jasmin Vardimon. In 2018, Peel was featured on BBC Radio 4 as part of their portrait series.[6]
Radio DJ
In 2018, Peel was a featured guest Radio presenter for five weeks on BBC 6 Music, filling in for Elbow's Guy Garvey. She also presents the BBC Radio 3 show Night Tracks.
Rebox
Peel is well known for fabricating music boxes and composing, recording, and performing with them under the name record titles Rebox. Her music box compositions have been featured on numerous adverts, artist remixes and the 2012 film Anna Karenina featuring Keira Knightley.
A sold out, limited edition vinyl release called Rebox through independent record label Static Caravan Recordings, featured her unique music box compositions, including covers of "Tainted Love" made famous by Soft Cell, New Order's "Blue Monday", OMD's "Electricity" and Cocteau Twins' "Sugar Hiccup". A limited edition of 300 were pressed onto 7-inch vinyl and promptly sold out. Her version of "Tainted Love" was used in American Horror Story trailers and in the UK an advert promoting summer storylines for ITV soap operas Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
Rebox 2 was released on 20 July 2015, featuring four new music box covers and three new instrumental pieces. A reworking of "Queen" by Perfume Genius begins this seamless 23 minute collection, followed by "Pale Green Ghosts" by John Grant, "Palace" by Wild Beasts and "Heaven How Long" by East India Youth.
Discography
Solo albums
| Year | Title | Details |
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| 2011 | The Broken Wave[7] |
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| 2016 | Awake but Always Dreaming |
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| 2017 | Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia |
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| 2018 | Particles in Space |
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| 2019 | Chalk Hill Blue |
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Albums
with The Magnetic North
- 2012: Orkney: Symphony of The Magnetic North (Full Time Hobby)
- 2016: Prospect of Skelmersdale (Full Time Hobby)
- 2013: Rhapsody (Metamatic Records)
with Beyond the Wizards Sleeve
- 2016: The Soft Bounce (Phantasy)
Solo EPs
| Year | Title | Details |
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| 2010 | Rebox |
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| 2013 | Nailhouse |
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| 2014 | Fabricstate |
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| 2015 | Rebox 2 |
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Solo singles
| Year | Title | Album | Details |
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| 2010 | "Hey Santa!" (with Tunng) | Single only | Released December 2010, Static Caravan |
| 2011 | "Tainted Love" | Single only | Used in American Horror Story |
| "Bay of Skaill" (by The Magnetic North) | Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North | Featured in the TV show Ringer and the film The Great Hip Hop Hoax | |
| 2012 | "You Call This Your Home?" | The Broken Wave | Static Caravan |
| 2013 | "Can You Help Me" (with Erland Cooper) | Unreleased | Used in Bones (on the episode "The Shot in the Dark") and in Reign (on episode 10 on season 1, 30 January 2014) |
| 2014 | "Chloe" | Fabricstate | Featured in show Dates, winner of the 2013 Royal Television Society Award for Best Original Title Music |
| "Find Peace" | Single only | Recorded with Benge for "I Believe in Father Christmas" (Rebox) | |
| 2016 | "Tidal Wave" | He's a Liquid EP (Metamatic Records) | Rebox cover of John Foxx's original |
| "All That Matters" | Single only | Released on 9 September 2016 |
Singles
with The Magnetic North
- 2012: "Rackwick" (Full Time Hobby)
- 2012: “Bay of Skaill” (Full Time Hobby)
- 2014: “Hi Life” (Full Time Hobby)
- 2016: “Signs” (Full Time Hobby)
- 2016: “A Death in the Woods” (Full Time Hobby)
- 2016: “Run of the Mill” (Full Time Hobby)
Performance / writing credits
| Yr | Release title | Artist(s) | Notes, role |
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| 2004 | The Fake Death Experience | 28 Costumes | Brass |
| 2006 | Smile... It Confuses People | Sandi Thom | Trombone, violin |
| 2010 | Let the Hard Times Roll | David Ford | Trombone, Violin |
| History of Modern | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | Organ, vocals (background) | |
| Fire Like This | Blood Red Shoes | Violin | |
| In Modern History | Jim Moray | Vocals on "Jenny of the Moor" | |
| 2011 | Last Days of Meaning | Nitin Sawhney | Vocals and the remix (rebox) |
| 2013 | Charge | David Ford | Violin |
| 2014 | Closing Time | Erland and the Carnival | Writer |
| Morning | Rhodes | Trombone, violin | |
| Home | |||
| 2015 | Wishes | ||
| Culture of Volume | East India Youth | Violin, string arrangements | |
| 2016 | "Diagram Girl" | Beyond the Wizards Sleeve | Vocals |
| "Creation" | Vocals | ||
| "The Soft Bounce" | Vocals | ||
| 2017 | A Kind Revolution (deluxe edition) | Paul Weller | Strings on Remix "Wo See Mama" |
| 2019 | Other Aspects: Live at The Royal Festival Hall | Orchestral Arrangements/Conducting | |
| 2018 | LUMP | LUMP | Trombone |
Scores
- 2011: TeZukA by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – several tracks using hand-punched music
- 2012: Compass (Sadler's Wells Theatre) – co-composed with Tal Rosner
- 2012: Anna Karenina soundtrack – several tracks
- 2013: Dates - title music
- 2016: Santa Forgot: Alzheimer’s Research UK - TV Campaign Score'
- 2018: Kiss Me First - Channel 4 / Netflix - Title Music and additional scoring
- 2018: The A List - BBC - title music
- 2019: Game of Thrones: The Last Watch (TV Special Documentary) - Full score
- 2020: The Deceived - Channel 5
References
- Carroll, Jim. "Hannah Peel: Awake But Always Dreaming – Rich, detailed and beguiling". Irish Times. Irish Times. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- Carroll, Jim. "Hannah Peel: Awake But Always Dreaming – Rich, detailed and beguiling". Irish Times. Irish Times. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hannah-peel-mn0001929873/biography
- https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/top-musician-hannah-peel-ditches-14861256
- Backseat Mafia https://www.backseatmafia.com/news-hannah-peel-releasing-soundtrack-for-the-deceived/. Retrieved 24 January 2021. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - "Hannah Peel series 3". BBC UK. BBC UK. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- "Hannah Peel". Spectator UK. Spectator UK. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hannah Peel. |
- Official site
- Hannah Peel on YouTube
- Hannah Peel on Facebook
- Hannah Peel on Twitter
- Hannah Peel at Beggars Music Publishing
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