4: Hannah Peel

Hannah Peel is a Northern Irish musician, producer, composer and BBC Radio 3 broadcaster based in Yorkshire, England, who blends electronic and classical music across her many film and TV soundtracks and solo albums, including 2021’s Fir Wave, which made the Mercury Music Prize shortlist.

Hannah’s scores are Emmy-nominated and Ivor Novello-winning – in 2023, she became the first woman to win Best Television Score for British sci-fi series The Midwich Cuckoos, praised for her combination of analogue synths, tape manipulations and mystical woodwind. 

As a forward-thinking solo artist, she’s released several albums with ambitious concepts, including a meditation on neuroscience inspired by her grandmother’s dementia and a seven-movement space odyssey written for synthesisers and a 29-piece brass band. She’s also collaborated with the Parasocial Orchestra, Paul Weller and more recently, the Chinese percussionist Beibei Wang.

In this episode, Hannah talks about her search for connection, experimenting with creating new instruments and sounds, how growing up in Northern Ireland and Yorkshire influenced her experience of sound, composing music for Game of Thrones and her affinity with Delia Derbyshire.

Studio Radicals is a new podcast series that meets the musical visionaries who are shaping the sounds of today, from leading artists and producers to composers and engineers.

For more information and to see portrait photography, videos and playlists from the series, visit dcsaudio.com/studioradicals and instagram.com/dcsonlythemusic. 

CREDITS
Studio Radicals is co-produced by dCS Audio and host Kate Hutchinson.
Audio production, editing and sound design: Holly Fisher. 
Video: Emma Giacalone.
Theme music: Anna Prior. 
Photography: Olivia Sofia Ferrara.
Video editing: Jess Vincent.
With thanks to Steve Malins.