The cover feature for issue 136 of Electronic Sound Magazine is my interview with Hannah Peel.
I chat to Hannah about her new album The Endless Dancewith percussionist Beibei Wang, her nocturnal Radio 3 show, the emergence of a space-themed ballet, and how 2026 will be a meteoric year. Oh and hiccups. We talk about hiccups.
I last spoke to Hannah nine years ago: we hung out at the glorious BlueDot festival where she was performing alongside a full colliery brass band. My recollection is that it was a sunny day, although that could have been Hannah's disposition.
In the intervening years, Hannah's CV has not only expanded, it has exploded into a colossal supernova of radio presenting, soundtracking for telly, BBC Proms, doing stuff at the Barbican, and even a cosmic-themed ballet. We cover as much of it as we can in the interview.
For one of our chats, we were joined by her album collaborator, Chinese percussionist Beibei Wang. I say 'percussionist' - the term doesn't really do her justice. She creates instruments in the most complicated ways possible: vegetable tom-toms; Coca-cola xylophones; leaky colanders.
"I just bring whatever I have from my pocket and then join Hannah’s party," says Beibei of working with Hannah, and that pretty much sums it up. There's a wild creativity between them, but then a real ease, as if they were destined to make tunes together. Impressive.
Enough gushing. If you like my words, such as "gushing", do pick up a copy of the mag. You can even get a limed-edition accompanying single if you're quick enough. In this issue, you'll also find me banging on about the Eurovision Song Contest. An excerpt:
"This year’s UK entry is Look Mum No Computer, which coincidentally was the slogan of my short-lived IT repair company aimed solely at members of the Icelandic indietronica band Múm."
Yes, I am an idiot.
Shout out too to Mike Lindsay who produced Hannah and Beibei's album. I last spoke to Mike in 2018 about modular basslines, not having rules, and moving to Margate.
Shop for lovely ES magazines here.
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