Hannah Peel and Will Burns (and Dot)

I reckon that I first heard music by Hannah Peel when she was performing as part of The Magnetic North along with Simon Tong (once of The Verve) and the producer Erland Cooper. (I'd highly recommend their first album, 'Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North.) 

That said, I don't think I'd realised that she was in The Magnetic North when I bought her second album, 'Awake But Always Dreaming', which I enjoyed but wouldn't actually rave about. Around the same time, though, I bought her concept album, 'Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia' and I fell in love with its combination of electronics and brass, as well as the subsequent remix album, 'Particles In Space'.

And *then* I found out that she's in John Foxx's touring band and I bought a couple of his albums that she performs on. She was one of my main musical obsessions of 2017.

Just over a year ago, the Minx and I went to see her play in Leeds, where she also performed a couple of tracks using her music box, which I previously hadn't been that interested in but, blimey, that was great, too. Cue purchase of the 'Rebox' ep. 

This year, she has done some orchestration for Paul Weller's orchestral gigs* and recorded an album with the poet, Will Burns, called 'Chalk Hill Blue'. I love the music on it but wasn't too sure about the poetry. I mean, I'm not mad on poetry, although Dom has certainly increased my interest in it, but Burns' stuff didn't seem my cup of tea. 

That didn't stop the Minx and I from going to Belfast to see them play, this weekend, though. The show was mid-afternoon at a little club that had tables and seats out front, which felt very civilised. I love analogue kit so I sneaked a quick picture (see extras), although it's not particularly illustrative, I admit.

The gig itself was excellent; both artists were charming and I enjoyed the poetry more seeing it performed live but what was brilliant was watching Peel working with her synths, taking the pieces from the album and mutating and extending them. And at around 45 minutes, it was the perfect length, too!

And as a post script to today, we had dinner with my friend, Dorothy, who I haven't seen for 29 years since we were at university together. She saw on Instagram that we were in Belfast and got in touch, so we met up after the gig. It was *so* lovely to see her, a lot more worldly that she was back then but still full of joy and, as ever, always with a smile or a laugh on her face. 

*I think that's right; I'm not terribly interested in that

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No scales
Reading: 'How Art Made Pop And Pop Became Art' by Mike Roberts (which is turning out to be very good, if a little densely written)