Hannah Peel details ‘Underland’ CD and Barbican premiere
Hannah Peel will release her “Underland” film score on CD on 16 October via Rivertones, ahead of a world premiere performance at the Barbican on 24 October.
Photo: Rachel McCarthy
Northern Irish composer Hannah Peel will release her original score for “Underland” on CD on 16 October via Rivertones, followed by a world premiere performance of the score at the Barbican on 24 October as part of the “Hannah Peel: In Focus” two-day series.
“Underland” is Peel’s score for Robert Petit’s film adaptation of Robert Macfarlane’s book of the same name. The album combines synthesizers with ancient Mayan pod trumpets and an Iron Age horn called a carnyx, alongside baroque choir and string orchestra. Peel said she read Macfarlane’s book in 2019 and had already used some of its words on her 2022 album “The Unfolding,” calling the chance to score the film itself “beautiful synchronicity.” She described the project as scoring for “these astronauts of the underworld, those sacred ancient cave systems,” and said combining “mythology, technology and possibility” was central to the record.
The CD tracklist runs 18 tracks, including “Into the Underland,” “Xibalba,” “Seeing in the Dark,” “The Waiting Wonder,” “You Don’t See Sunlight,” “The Earth Doesn’t Forget,” and “The Ascent.”
The Barbican premiere, adapted for stage by Kieran Brunt, will be performed by contemporary vocal ensemble Shards with imagery from the film adapted by director Robert Petit. It forms the second half of “Hannah Peel: In Focus,” which opens on 23 October at Milton Court with “PIA,” a new live production of her 2020 album “Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia,” created with choreographer Katya Bourvis and creative producer Tala Lee-Turton and scored for a 17-piece brass band. The 24 October date also includes a performance of “The Endless Dance,” Peel’s recent album with percussionist Beibei Wang on Real World Recordings.
Peel and Beibei Wang will also play the Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead on 20 October and St Luke’s in Glasgow on 21 October.
About Hannah Peel
Hannah Peel is a Northern Irish composer, producer, and broadcaster whose work often connects science and music. Her studio albums include “Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia” (2017), scored for synthesizers and colliery brass band; the Mercury Prize-nominated “Fir Wave” (2021); “The Unfolding” (2022) featuring the Paraorchestra; and “The Endless Dance” (2026) with Beibei Wang. Peel received an Emmy nomination for her score on “Game of Thrones: The Last Watch” and has since scored “Scoop” (Netflix), “Bring Them Down” (Mubi), “Midwinter Break” (Focus Features), and the horror film “Saccharine.” Her electronic score for “The Midwich Cuckoos” (Sky) won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Soundtrack in 2023, making her the first solo female composer to win that award. Peel also presents BBC Radio 3’s “Night Tracks.” “Underland” continues her run of film and stage work, following its “beautiful synchronicity” with a book she had already drawn on for “The Unfolding.”
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
