♫ Magnetic North

We saw Hannah Peel supporting and playing with The Unthanks when they played down here in Southampton. She is as talented as she is charming, with a fascinating new approach to folk-inspired music that is well-represented on her album The Broken Wave, from which one of the standout tracks is Song For The Sea:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Q2wCEgvbQ]

One of her signature instruments is the pin-harp, a music box programmed with a paper tape like a piano roll that she cranks by hand on stage to accompany her singing.

[youtube http://youtu.be/m6xFK-vQhJM]

It seems her new project is a small-group concept work called Orkney: Symphony  Of The Magnetic North. The teaser web site is hauntingly attractive and I’m looking forward to finding out more when they release the album on May 7th.