Hannah Peel - Awake but Always Dreaming (2016)

Alternative singer/songwriter Hannah Peel was born in Northern Ireland, and began her musical career playing the fiddle in her father's band. At the age of 18, she attended Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, where she developed her violin, trombone, and piano skills. Following session work for Sandi Thom, she became a backing musician and collaborator for Easyworld's David Ford, the Unthanks, Blue Roses, John Foxx and the Maths, and Duke Special, and led the 13-piece Kinetic Fallacy on a headlining slot at the Big Chill Festival. Following support from BBC Radio 6 Music DJs Marc Riley and Stuart Maconie, she released an '80s covers EP, Rebox, and began work on her debut album. Produced by Tunng's Mike Lindsay and with strings arranged by Nitin Sawhney, The Broken Wave was released through Static Caravan Records in 2011. The critical success of The Broken Wave led Simon Tong and Erland Cooper of the Magnetic North to invite Peel to collaborate with them on their 2012 album, Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North, with Peel writing string and brass arrangements. Cooper also served as co-producer with Peel on her 2013 Nailhouse EP, a fusion of organic and electronic elements that was recorded at her own private studio, equipped with an array of vintage analog synthesizers. Arriving in 2014, the Fabricstate EP included the Royal Television Society award-winning song "Chloe," which was featured in the British TV series Dates, and in 2016 she released her much anticipated sophomore solo LP, Awake But Always Dreaming. That same year saw Peel collaborate with Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve on a pair of BBC Radio 6 playlisted singles, as well as issue a new Magnetic North LP, Prospect of Skelmersdale. When not busy with her own recording projects, Peel has scored stage productions for London's Sadler's Wells Theatre, written music for several projects for Britain's Channel 4 television network, and contributed to the scores of the movie Anna Karenina and the TV series American Horror Story. Peel was also the first female recipient of the Momentum Music Fund grant, supported by the Arts Council of England. ~ Jon O'Brien.