Hannah Peel vinyl edition of her Ivor Novello nominated score for The Midwich Cuckoos
HANNAH PEEL
IVOR NOVELLO AWARD NOMINATION FOR THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS SCORE
VINYL EDITION OF THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS, HER SCORE FOR SKY’S ADAPTATION OF THE JOHN WYNDHAM CLASSIC, ANNOUNCED
VINYL OUT ON 26 MAY 2023 VIA INVADA RECORDS
“An eerie triumph” – Electronic Sound
“Like a nursery rhyme reimagined by John Carpenter” – Mark Kermode
“The drama also shows the importance of a distinctive score. Hannah Peel’s music is by turns warm, eerie and incredibly moving.” – Radio Times
“… another auspicious addition to Hannah Peel’s discography, revealing a powerfully dark aspect of her writing for the screen.” – Arcana
Composer Hannah Peel has received an Ivor Novello Award Nomination – Best Television Soundtrack – for her The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky) score. Talking about her nomination after the ceremony last night in London, Peel said, “I am utterly thrilled to be nominated for an Ivor Novello Award! Scoring this show felt like a gift; being able to fully explore creative urges and nurture those that were out of my comfort zone – like the entity that arrived into the Midwich Village – it was a transcending experience.”
Her original score for The Midwich Cuckoos, created for Sky’s adaption of John Wyndham’s classic science novel of the same name is set to be released on vinyl via Invada Records on 26 May 2023. This new ltd edition vinyl release features brand new images specially created for the release by illustrator Richard Stephenson: https://www.invada.co.uk/products/pre-sale-hannah-peel-the-midwich-cuckoos-original-score-vinyl
Written, performed and produced by Hannah Peel, the score from the Mercury Music Prize and Emmy nominated Northern Irish artist is a unique and intricately produced sound world, working in harmony with the sound design of Sky’s adaptation. With analogue synthesisers recreating the horror of the ‘Hive Mind’, tape manipulations, drones, woodwind and melodies echoing the song of the cuckoo bird, Peel creates a score that perfectly balances the organic instrumentations and melodies, juxtaposed with an increasingly dark electronic ‘invasion’.
Peel goes on to explain, “Creating the score was a constant endeavour to find the balance between darkness and light, fear and beauty. It was a very fine and intricate equilibrium between the normal sunlit logical world as we know it, and a subversive unfamiliar musical language.”
The Midwich Cuckoos is an unnerving fable for our turbulent times, a thrilling strange and at times horrifying journey into parenthood. In this new adaptation, Midwich is a small English commuter town, liberal and aspirational, populated by families and affluent streets. A place where nothing much happens – that is until the twilight hours of a summer’s day when a sleepy corner of the town is plunged into panic: https://youtu.be/WCS4v711yck
Hannah Peel is a Northern Irish artist, composer, producer, broadcaster, regularly presenting on the BBC Radio 3 show, Night Tracks and Belfast Music Patron following its City of Music 2021 status by UNESCO. Often inspired by the connections between science and music, her recent recording career includes 2022’s work with the Paraorchestra, The Unfolding, which was recently nominated for an MPG award (for Self-Producing Artist); 2021’s Mercury Prize nominated Fir Wave; 2016’s Awake But Always Dreaming and Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, scored for synthesisers and a 30 piece colliery brass band.
Peel composed and produced the soundtrack for ‘Game of Thrones: The Last Watch’ which earned her a 2019 Emmy nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score). In 2020 she created the soundtrack for BBC documentary, ‘Lee Miller – A Life On The Frontline’ and was awarded an MPG award for her soundtrack production on the 4-part Channel 5/Netflix TV thriller ‘The Deceived’. Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel’s Olivier Award-winning drama, is currently running at the National Theatre, with a new score by Peel.
The Midwich Cuckoos tracklisting (cat # INV287)
Hive Mind
Cuckoo
Help Me
Ward 300
Hive Scream
Seen
Underground
Midwich School
Midwich Cuckoos
The Blackout
Awakenings
Pregnant
Scared
The Keys
If And When
No Leaving
Waking
A Pattern
Come Out
It’s Over
Cuckoo
Help Me
Ward 300
Hive Scream
Seen
Underground
Midwich School
Midwich Cuckoos
The Blackout
Awakenings
Pregnant
Scared
The Keys
If And When
No Leaving
Waking
A Pattern
Come Out
It’s Over
Listen to / buy The Midwich Cuckoos:https://www.invada.co.uk/products/pre-sale-hannah-peel-the-midwich-cuckoos-original-score-vinyl
RECENT PRAISE FOR HANNAH PEEL & PARAORCHESTRA’S THE UNFOLDING
“…fresh and original” – MOJO
“… the scope of Hannah Peels’ latest genre-busting opus couldn’t be greater.” – UNCUT 8/10*
“Serene, ethereal, and experimental: Hannah Peel & Paraorchestra’s new album, The Unfolding, is comfortably all of these things” – The Vinyl Factory, Best New Vinyl Releases
“In a world beset by shadows, Peel and her collaborators have created illuminated joy.” – Electronic Sound