It has been a considerable stretch since we last touched base with Anna Meredith, the Scottish composer and electronic musician. Lately, she’s unveiled a diverse array of projects—from the bumper-car sound installation Bumps Per Minute: 18 Studies For Dodgems to a collaboration with the Ligeti Quartet titled Nuc, and to scores for the films The End We Start From and Thursday. More recently, she composed the music for Wicker, a Sundance fantasy-comedy featuring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, slated for US release on October 23.
Meredith is now preparing to introduce her first pop-leaning record since 2019’s FIBS. In February, she will release Darling, a project she describes in this way:
DARLING is a conduit for intensity, momentum and euphoria. This is me crafting music to summon motion, tension and release, to push through my mind and my body at a moment when my own world (and the wider world) feels overwhelming. My aim was to fashion a singular experience primarily for myself but also for those I’m bringing along on this journey with me. I wanted to lean into a vivid, technicolor version of what my music can become, pursuing higher highs and more intricate detours, and letting it rest with greater confidence than ever before. The tracks are longer, bolder, wilder and simpler than anything that appears on my previous albums. I’ve given a lot of thought to balancing the meticulous detail found in dense, complex music with the intention to remain open, creating a channel for energy and joy.
Our first glimpse of the new record arrives with “Dusky,” the opening track. It’s a swift, storming burst of sound, saturated with rhythmic drive, gleaming synths, and brass that’s letting loose with regal flair. Meredith offered a statement about “Dusky” in particular:
I’m incredibly proud of “Dusky” and the manifesto it sketches for the album. In many ways it behaves as four pieces in one, with each segment owning its own identity while laying the groundwork for the reveals and twists to come. It features many of the elements I love writing—polyrhythms, punchy brass, metric modulations, soaring synths. A lot of the music was written around my wish to build toward a heavy, churning metal electric guitar riff for my extraordinary guitarist Jack Ross, and to figure out the best path to that moment so it feels both perfectly right and utterly unexpected. It fills me with joy and a sense of play every time I hear it.
Listen below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Dusky”
02 “Mode Mouse”
03 “Last Words”
04 “Cry Baby”
05 “Lye”
06 “Underling”
07 “Mink”
08 “Rites”
09 “Aphid”
10 “3019”
11 “Peach”
Darling is out 2/12 via Mercury KX. Pre-order it here.
