Hannah Mary Peel (born 27 August 1985) is a British Ivor Novello award-winning composer, producer and broadcaster. Her 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 her Emmy-nominated score to the documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, and the British science fiction TV series The Midwich Cuckoos which won Peel an Ivor Novello award in 2023.
Peel releases her solo records on her own imprint label, My Own Pleasure Records. This includes her 2021 Mercury Music Prize nominated Fir Wave, Awake But Always Dreaming, and Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia.
Peel has been a regular weekly broadcaster on BBC Radio 3's Night Tracks since 2019.
Aside from her solo work, she has worked with collaborators on projects including orchestrations and conducting for Paul Weller, an album written for the British Paraorchestra, an album with the poet Will Burns, and as a member of the psychogeography indie rock group The Magnetic North and the electronic music group John Foxx and the Maths.
Early life
Peel was born in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, on 27 August 1985. 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. She enrolled in the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts at the age of 18. There, she studied violin, trombone and piano.
Music career
After graduation from LIPA, Peel stayed in Liverpool as a session musician, recording and playing live for various artists including David Ford, Laura Groves and The Unthanks. In 2007, Peel musically directed King Cotton starring John Henshaw, Israel Oyelumade, Paul Anderson and Cornelius Macarthy. The play opened at The Lowry, Salford, United Kingdom, on 12 September 2007, before moving to the Liverpool Empire Theatre from 25 September 2007.
In 2008, Peel was awarded a grant from the Liverpool Capital of Culture to curate and produce a large scale audio visual festival called AV08. It featured commissioned collaborations from artists from New York, London and Liverpool utilising large scale projections onto the Mersey Tunnel Air Vent.
In 2009 Peel released her first EP Rebox on vinyl with Static Caravan. The record featured remixes of famous 80's pop songs, remixed onto a whole punched music box and sung by Peel. The record sold out and has since been used in TV shows as American Horror Story.
Peel moved to London in 2010 to record her debut album The Broken Wave with Mike Lindsay of Tunng. During touring of the album she joined The Magnetic North who released albums in 2012 and 2016 on Full Time Hobby. Peel continued to work as a session musician, solo artist and composer during this time.
Her solo albums include: Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, written for colliery brass band and synthesiser; Awake But Always Dreaming, written after witnessing her grandmother's descent into Alzheimer's disease; and her 2021 Mercury-nominated album Fir Wave.
In 2018, Peel arranged strings and woodwind for Paul Weller's 2018 album True Meanings. Following the release, Peel orchestrated and conducted an orchestra for Weller's 2019 live album Other Aspects: Live at the Royal Festival Hall which featured songs from True Meanings and track by The Jam and The Style Council and from Weller's solo material. She has also orchestrated and conducted for his subsequent records On Sunset, Fat Pop and 66.
In late 2017, Peel was commissioned by British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay to score her first feature-length documentary film, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch. For her score, Peel was nominated for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Since then, Peel has gone on to score multiple TV shows and films full time.
Radio presenter Since 2019, Peel has been a weekly presenter on the BBC Radio 3 show Night Tracks. In 2019, she was a guest presenter on BBC 6 Music, filling in for Elbow's Guy Garvey. Peel has also presented specialist music series Unfinished Symphony for BBC Radio Ulster and in 2024, her first Night Tracks Prom at the BBC Proms.
Discography
Albums
Solo
2011: The Broken Wave (Static Caravan) 2016: Awake but Always Dreaming (My Own Pleasure) 2017: Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia (My Own Pleasure) 2018: Particles in Space (My Own Pleasure) 2019: Chalk Hill Blue (Rivertones) 2019: Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch OST(HBO) 2020: The Deceived OST (Silva Screen Records) 2021: Fir Wave (My Own Pleasure) 2021: Unheard Delia (My Own Pleasure) 2022: The Unfolding, featuring the Paraorchestra and Victoria Otuwari (Real World Records) 2022: Rogue Agent, OST (Universal Music) 2022: The Midwich Cuckoos, OST (Invada Records) 2023: Dancing At Lughnasa, OST (Broadway Records and National Theatre) 2024: Scoop, OST (Netflix music) 2024: Insomnia, OST (Madison Gate Records)
Collaborations
With Beyond the Wizards Sleeve
2016: The Soft Bounce (Phantasy)
With Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay (Tunng)
2021: Outsider (Ya Basta! Records)
With John Foxx and the Maths
2013: Rhapsody (Metamatic Records) 2020: Howl (Metamatic Records)
With The Magnetic North
2012: Orkney: Symphony of The Magnetic North (Full Time Hobby) 2016: Prospect of Skelmersdale (Full Time Hobby)
With Manchester Collective
2023: Neon (Bedroom Community)
With Beibei Wang
2026: The Endless Dance (Real World Records)
EPs
Solo
2010: Rebox (Static Caravan)
2013: Nailhouse (Mitchum Submarine)
2014: Fabricstate (My Own Pleasure)
2015: Rebox 2 (My Own Pleasure)
Collaborations
With Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay (Tunng) 2015: Henry J. Darger (Ya! Basta Records)
Singles
Solo
2021: Horizon (Deutsche Grammophon)
Performance / writing credits Year Release title Artist(s) Notes, role Label 2004 The Fake Death Experience28 Costumes BrassSpank Records 2006 Smile... It Confuses PeopleSandi Thom Trombone, violinRCA Records2010 Let the Hard Times RollDavid FordTrombone, Violin The Magnolia Label2010History of Modern Organ, vocals (background)Bright Antenna2010Fire Like ThisBlood Red Shoes ViolinV2 Records2010In Modern HistoryJim MorayVocals on "Jenny of the Moor"NIAG Records 2011 Last Days of MeaningNitin SawhneyVocals and the remix (rebox)Positiv ID 2013 ChargeDavid Ford ViolinRazor and Tie2014Closing TimeErland and the CarnivalWriterFull Time Hobby2014MorningRhodesTrombone, violin Rhodes Music2015WishesRhodesTrombone, violinRhodes Music2015Culture of VolumeEast India YouthViolin, string arrangementsXL Recordings2016"Diagram Girl"Beyond the Wizards SleeveVocalsPhantasy "Creation"VocalsPhantasy "The Soft Bounce"VocalsPhantasy 2018LUMPLUMPTromboneDead Oceans2017A Kind Revolution (deluxe edition)Paul WellerStrings on Remix "Wo See Mama"Parlophone2018 True MeaningsPaul WellerOrchestral Arrangements/Conducting/PerformerParlophone2019 Other Aspects: Live at The Royal Festival HallPaul WellerOrchestral Arrangements/Conducting/Performer Parlophone2020 On SunsetPaul WellerOrchestral Arrangements/ConductingPolydor Records2020Set it Loose Hayden Thorpe Violin Domino Recording Company2021 Fat Pop (Volume 1)Paul WellerOrchestral Arrangements/ConductingPolydor Records2021 ArrivalsDeclan O'Rourke String arrangements Warner Music2021Heart Shaped Scars Dot Allison String arrangements SA Recordings2021Absent Origin Mira Calix Vocals Warp Records2022LYS Mari Samuelsen Composition and electronics/synthesisers on two tracks Deutsche Grammophon2023 66 Paul Weller Orchestral Arrangements/ConductingPolydor Records2023Conciousology Dot Allison String arrangements Sonic Cathedral
Scores 2011: TeZukA by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – several tracks using hand-punched music 2012: Compass (Sadler's Wells Theatre) – Full score 2012: Anna Karenina soundtrack – several tracks 2013: Dates – title music 2016: Santa Forgot – Alzheimer's Research UK and Aardman Animations – Full score 2018: Brighton Rock - Pilot Theatre - Full live theatre score 2018: Ice Alive - National Geographic - Full 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 OST (TV Special Documentary) – Full score 2019: Cold War Letters - London Calling – BBC 4 - Full score 2020: Close - Irish National Opera - Score 2020: The Deceived – Channel 5 - Full score 2020: Lee Miller: Life On The Frontline – BBC 2 - Full score 2021: Greenpeace: Act Now - Full score 2021: Anti-body - Alexander Whitely Dance Company - Full score 2021: This Cultural Life - Radio 4 (ongoing) - Full score 2022: Rogue Agent - Netflix - Full Score 2022: The Midwich Cuckoos - SKY Max - Full score 2023: Dancing At Lughnasa - Royal National Theatre - Full score 2023: Silent Roar - Film - Full score 2024: Scoop - Netflix - Full score 2024: Insomnia - Paramount Plus - Full score 2024: Bring Them Down - Film - Full score
References
External links