Meet the composer: Hannah Peel

At each juncture – from explorative electronic solo albums, to collaborations with Paul Weller and The Magnetic North, to scores and soundtracks including Game of Thrones: The Last Watch – her talents have brought considerable praise. As a result, she is, to give her, her full title, Mercury Prize, Emmy-nominated, RTS and Music Producers Guild winning composer, Hannah Peel.

She is also no stranger to the Southbank Centre, having brought Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia here with Tubular Brass, as part of 2017’s New Music Biennial. This May, her latest composition, Neon, will also reverberate around our buildings, as it’s performed by Resident Artists, Manchester Collective. Ahead of that concert, we caught up with Peel to find out more about Neon, as well as her musical upbringing.

What is your earliest musical memory?

I had a Fisher Price tape player which came with a tape of children’s songs when I was about three. It included tunes like ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ and ‘You’re a pink toothbrush…’ plus some wacky synth instrumentals which I loved. Hitting play, stop and rewind on that simple player with those huge buttons was the best feeling ever.

Did you always want to have a career in music? 

No, I really wasn’t sure what I would do until applying for universities. It’s only then I started to realise what I really loved ,and that it could actually be a career. When I was about eight or nine, I worked in my Auntie’s pharmacy during the summer holidays. Just dusting shelves, doing the till and seeing her mix medicines, so had thought that would be really fun, that or a private detective!

What’s your favourite piece of music to perform? And what is your favourite to listen to?

I loved performing ‘Emergence In Nature’ at the Mercury Prize awards in 2021. It was never intended as a record to be performed live, but coming out of lockdown and performing with friends, plus using a vintage Roland Space Echo on stage, was a lot of fun. I don’t really listen to my own music after live shows are over. I think it’s important to embrace the feelings each record evokes and keep moving forward.

How does it feel to see and hear a piece of music you’ve composed, performed by other musicians?

It’s such a different experience! It’s more about letting go and experiencing it as an audience member once the parts have gone out. The producer part of me still wants to tweak and adjust, be a part of it on stage and physically feel the music, but yes letting go and especially into the hands of players, way more proficient than me is really uplifting too. 

You’ve composed several soundtracks and scores for TV and film in recent years, where do you start with the process of creating such a piece of music?

I usually start with the script and lots of conversations with the creative team – the writer, director, producers and exec producers – before seeing anything. It’s a great way to think of a sound world and themes, before committing to picture at a later stage. Sometimes things arise that you never expect, lots of creativity within boundaries… that’s the joy of the process, and of working closely with others. 

How did your collaboration with Manchester Collective come about?

I’d been aware of the ensemble and seen them perform before any collaborative conversations came about. I love their ethos, unique performance spaces and incredible versatility. It was exciting when we began to talk about working on a piece together and discuss the composers that could be in the same programme. 

What was the inspiration for your piece, Neon?

Neon lights are fascinating. A symbol of the city at night, iconic landmarks; ever present through smog, rain, in film and still-imagery… decadent and bustling yet also with a taste of loneliness. It’s an art form born of breath, heat and a spark. A very human one. When I started looking into the stories of neon manufacturing and how the once humming industry was quickly vanishing, it felt like the right story to explore that collective memory, being set aside for faster, brighter, and cheaper materials. 

‘Neon lights are fascinating. A symbol of the city at night, iconic landmarks; ever present through smog, rain, in film and still-imagery… decadent and bustling yet also with a taste of loneliness.’

Hannah Peel

And what can the audience expect from this work?

It’s a piece with three distinct movements, almost fading into one another, eventually disappearing into the atmosphere. There is a closely interwoven interplay between the acoustic instruments and the digital ‘tape’ performer, which I hope allows for a reflection on the presence and value of hand, as we move ever quickly forward in the future. 

On the subject of audience expectation and reaction, how much attention do you pay to reviews of your music?

There was a time when starting out that I would have been deeply affected by any review or comment. You’re starting to explore, put your voice out there and find a sound, so to have any slight criticism was a sensitive experience for me. I’ve learnt over the years to take anything as it comes, we all experience music in such different ways and sometimes even the venue being an unsuitable temperature can affect a performance! I still look and read but can laugh at myself more these days with a distant perspective.

And lastly looking forwards, if you could collaborate with any performer, composer, conductor or orchestra, who would it be?

The Japanese percussionist and composer Midori Takada is just about to release two new records after 23 years. I would love to work with her, maybe combined with a string ensemble or something with lightness, it could be very beautiful! Putting this out there, in the hope it can happen one day.