Track of the day: ‘We Are Part Mineral’ by Hannah Peel & Paraorchestra

For the track Peel took inspiration from Robert Macfarlane’s book Underland, an exploration of deep time and the underworld, and Macfarlane – in response to ‘We Are Part Mineral’ – recently wrote, “Here is the geological human body taking form, with its calcified bones, its teeth-reefs: building itself chemically, determinedly, awesomely, from the sheer matter of the young world. It was mineralisation that allowed us to become upright, generating skeletons that might bear us, muscles that might move us, and as I listened, I found myself unconsciously leaning forwards: moving, moved.”

The video for ‘We Are Part Mineral’ was created by Stefan Goodchild (Triple Geek), who once again has woven incredible new worlds for the track to inhabit, using Barnbrook’s totems from the album artwork as inspiration. The track begins with a chorus of ambient voices before it pummels, twists and turns – each movement reflected by the twisting of elements.

The Unfolding is an extraordinary eight-part collaboration between Mercury and Emmy nominated Northern Irish composer Hannah Peel and Bristol’s Paraorchestra, recorded in precious morsels of time around the global pandemic. There are pieces of music that seek to tell us deeper stories. Others harness the talents of the players at their disposal in adventurous ways. Then there are the rare, generous works that make us think back to our roots as human beings and to our shared beginnings in the universe, that lift us in their melodies, rhythms and textures, that carry us with them. The Unfolding is all of these things.

‘We Are Part Mineral’ by Hannah Peel & Paraorchestra is available to stream or download now on all DSPs. The album ‘The Unfolding’ is available to pre-order.

Stream / Buy