Hannah Peel on Awake But Always Dreaming & Threshold
The Skinny talks to Northern Irish musician Hannah Peel about her album Awake But Always Dreaming, which tackles the emotional subject of her grandmother’s battle with dementia
It’s no secret: women have always been well represented in electronic music. Their involvement can be traced as far back as 1842, to the pioneering work of Ada Lovelace, and it’s been a common theme within popular culture since the 50s, thanks to the contributions of Else Marie Pade and Delia Derbyshire (to name but a few). Move into the 21st century and it's the same story: take Anna Meredith, for example, whose background in classical music adds a distinctive twist to her take on avant-synthpop. Similarly, the work of live coder, improviser and synthesist Joanne Armitage is one of the best examples of modern electronic music that skillfully shies away from the cliches of the genre.
Also incorporating elements of melancholy folk while famously employing hand-crafted music boxes, multi-instrumentalist and composer Hannah Peel is part of a new generation of women taking electronic music into their own hands – and doing something rather brilliant with it.
You’ll be playing at Threshold Festival in Liverpool this March. Does it feel like somewhat of a homecoming when you play shows there now, having studied at uni there?
I never thought it would feel like that but it does feel good to be playing there again. I love Liverpool and only left because I needed to find more work outside of the city. It has a strong hold on my heart.
A lot of the imagery in your music seems heavily inspired by the places you’ve lived. Where in particular captured your heart most?
Until I started working with The Magnetic North [Peel's side project with The Verve's Simon Tong and Gawain Erland Cooper, of Erland and the Carnival], I hadn’t really thought about how my childhood travels [across] the Irish sea had affected my life. I suppose with all three of us are living away from our childhood homes, so nostalgia, melancholy and a distant perspective play a huge part.
For my own music, the perspective of always on the outside looking in plays a huge role lyrically, so I often have to work extra hard to find what I need to say deep inside. This is also the reason that writing Awake But Always Dreaming took so long. For a long time I did anything but analyse and write about what my own family and I were going through with my Grandmother. When I did, though, it opened up a world I never knew I could communicate through. So many people are affected by memory loss as a disease and there is nothing we can do about it yet.
You've said that your recent album Awake But Always Dreaming became a “life-changing experience”, inspired by your grandmother’s illness. Do you mind telling us a bit about what happened?
My grandmother had started to be affected by Alzheimer’s over 10 years ago. It’s a very slow, insidious disease and you never know in the beginning quite what will happen or how bad it will get. It was very hard to see her gradually disappear and also that meant we all did too from her mind. I would sometimes only emotionally get through visits to her by imagining where she had gone – make believe worlds, cityscapes, streets where she could wander inside her mind and each shop she came to would hold different memorable objects from her life. It kept me happier to know she was still inside somewhere. I didn’t know much about the disease; it wasn’t until the last few months of her life that I started to look into it.
Did you know one in three of us will be affected? It’s crazy, and two out of three will be women! Our lives consist of gathering mementos, going on holidays, getting married, having kids, and you want to remember all those things and for it to last a lifetime, until old age. Then for it all to disappear... it’s devastating and there is still no cure.
When I learnt about how many other people were going through the same, I knew then and there that was what I needed to write about. At the same time, I also discovered some people used music to calm confused people living with dementia or to get them singing old songs they might have known. So on Christmas day in 2015 I decided to get my family to try some music with her.
The moment we started to sing some carols, she came out of her hazy-eyed sleep and began to sing along, and went from not knowing us or where she was to singing words and melodies! She knew them inside out and watching this unfold was truly magical. I never knew music could have such a deep memorable effect. As I was leaving and kissed her goodbye she said, 'Merry Christmas,' and it was truly the most incredible feeling to be able to communicate with her again.
Music boxes have become a trademark of yours – how did you begin working with them?
I was writing music for a theatre show in Liverpool and the performance needed things that could turn or worked in circles – so record players and gramophones – but then I found these programmable music boxes online. I discovered it works best with strict memorable bass lines and melodies, so for a laugh I made Tainted Love – everyone knows that riff. It was fun so I recorded it at home and made a few more.
I sent it to a friend who then sent it on to a little label in Birmingham called Static Caravan; they went on to release it as a limited 7”. It was a journey that opened a door for me to sing and make my own music.
There's something about them that evokes childhood memories...
Yes. They can be sometimes seen as creepy and I’ve even had Tainted Love used on American Horror Story, but I do love the innocence to the box and the fact it's hard to keep in time. The creaks and crackles of the paper as it runs over the metal bars inside are unique every time.
It felt very apt to finish the album with a music box version of Cars in The Garden because of this: as dementia gradually works its way further into our minds it returns people back to their childhood, we gradually all become the rusting cars in the garden, overgrown with nature and decaying back into the elements of the earth from where we came.
Your lyrics are quite evocative, and often cryptic. Are you inspired by any writers in particular when it comes to songwriting?
For the second half of Awake But Always Dreaming, it relied heavily on things not being quite what they are – double meaning sometimes, too. Confusion, corrosion, falling away mentally but not falling down physically. Repeated loops and phrases. The title is often hidden in other songs too – it had to feel that we are stepping into the rabbit hole of the mind, yet I wanted them to stand up on their own as songs so you can listen without knowing the themes.
Lyrically I’m a big fan of The Blue Nile and Paul Buchanan and artists like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell. River Man by Nick Drake has more or less influenced every part of my writing; the lyrics, melancholy move of the chords and even the string arrangement, which is stunning.
Would you describe your music as 'electronic'?
Yes I would, but 'analogue electronic'. I prefer using synths, drum machines and tangible electronic instruments; I love their nuances. I’m not as creative when I’m using software on the laptop. Things like found sounds, that I use for beats and atmosphere, and traditional piano and strings sound more easily matched.
Women working within electronic music are still often termed 'singer-songwriters', yet you’d never hear the same said about someone like Brian Eno, for example. Does that sort of thing bother you at all?
Yes, that bothers me a lot! I often wonder if streaming and digital downloads adds to this laziness, because you can’t check the credits as easily, but I do think people are starting to listen, read more and take note of what is going on in the background of an album and gig. My favourite female artist that I look up to is Laurie Anderson. If more young female composers/producers like Mica Levi, Anna Meredith and Mira Calix (to name a few) were heralded in the press we would soon change perspectives and younger generations would find their role models quicker.
What’s next for Hannah Peel?
I will be touring this spring and summer with my band. I also premiered a new piece of commissioned music in 2016: it’s a journey into space to Cassiopeia with a colliery brass band and analogue synths. It’s just been recorded in Yorkshire and we will perform at Bluedot festival at Jodrell Bank and around the UK from May to December this year. If all things go to plan it will be released in September this year – can’t wait.
Awake But Always Dreaming is out now via My Own Pleasure. Hannah Peel plays Threshold Festival, Liverpool, 1 Apr; get tickets via Skiddle