Laura Cannell:
LAURA CANNELL BIOGRAPHY 2025
Laura Cannell is an internationally acclaimed composer and musician whose music straddles the worlds of contemporary and ancient music, drawing on the emotional influences of the landscape. Her music often explores the spaces between early and experimental music. In 2024 she released a monthly EP series on her Brawl Records Label under the heading, ‘A Year of Lore’, and her 10th solo album ‘The Rituals of Hildegard Reimagined’ came out August 2024 to rave reviews. In 2025 she has released her 11th solo album LYRELYREYRE – a kind of 7th century inspired ambient album played on a copy of the Sutton Hoo Lyre that was found in the Royal Ship Burial in Suffolk.
In 2025 Laura is releasing a series of EPs under the heading ‘A Compendium of Beasts’ and she is regularly broadcast on the BBC, including live in concert, playlists for Late Junction Mixtape, BBC 6Music and the World Service, a Maidavale session, interviews and commissions. She was recently a featured guest on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. She has performed throughout the UK and Europe and collaborated with the likes of writer and comedian Stewart Lee and the cellist Lori Goldston (Earth/Nirvana).
Notable recent performances include solo at King’s Place London, The British Library double bill with Gazelle Twin, Cafe Oto, Artist in Residence at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, a solo performance & lecture at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In 2024 Laura was a contributing composer/performer to Original Soundtrack of feature film HARVEST which premiered at Venice Biennale, New York and London International Film Festivals, and co-composer on ‘The Woman in Black’ for Amazon Audible. Other performances include solo shows at Deep Minimalism at Queen Elizabeth Hall, King’s Place and The Barbican.
Commissions have included: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Historic Royal Palaces sound installations both solo and with Mira Calix. She was commissioned by The Marian Consort and The Cheltenham Festival to compose and 8 part vocal composition ‘For the Plants that Bind Us’. In May 2024 Laura was Artist in Residence at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival where she performed solo in Norwich Cathedral. Laura’s music has been used for film & television internationally and on the catwalks at Paris and London Fashion Weeks. In July this year Laura was featured in a BBC Radio 4 documentary about the recorder.
Below = Older biog up to 2024
Following a couple of years (from 2020) of collaborative releases, remote projects, and sound installations Laura returns to her solo work and throughout 2024 has embarked on a project under the heading of “A Year of Lore”, writing, recording and producing an EP of new music every month exploring real and imagined Lore such as Sealore, Earthlore, Riverlore and Mountainlore. Alongside this project which includes signed limited edition CDs, Laura was recently co-commissioned by The Marian Consort and The Cheltenham Festival to compose and 8 part vocal composition called Plantlore: For the Plants that Bind Us. In May 2024 Laura was an Artist in Residence at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival which included performing solo in Norwich Cathedral, a New Line-up of her Modern Ritual curated night and more.
Laura has released seven solo albums, toured throughout the UK & Europe, and is regularly broadcast on the BBC. Performances include Deep Minimalism at Queen Elizabeth Hall, solo at King’s Place, touring & recording with cellist Lori Goldston (Nirvana, Earth), These Feral Lands Album (with writer/comedian Stewart Lee) and solo at The Barbican. Commissions have included: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Historic Royal Palaces sound installations both solo and with Mira Calix. She is regularly broadcast on the BBC, including live in concert and making playlists for Late Junction Mixtape, BBC 6Music and the World Service. She has also recorded a Maida Vale Session with harpist Rhodri Davies. Laura’s music has been used for film & television internationally and on the catwalks at Paris and London Fashion Weeks.
In 2020 she appeared on the BBC Radio 4 Documentary Life, Death and The Foghorn with Jennifer Lucy Allan, and curated and toured her Modern Ritual Series throughout the UK 2017 – 2018. She has performed solo extensively in Europe and has been featured in The Irish Times with Kate Ellis, The FT, The Guardian, The Quietus, and The Wire Magazine (Aug 2022). Other highlights include performing at Flow Festival (Helsinki), Fano Free Folk Festival in Denmark, Le Guess Who? In Holland, Unsound in Poland and many others.
Twitter: @laurarecorder
“The raw beauty of her melodies glimmer through prickly thickets of stark and dissonant chordal drones”
THE WIRE
“this music feels ancient, it also feels brutally alive, as if a giant was waking from long slumbers, about to make its way in the world”
THE GUARDIAN
“an essential work of modern British folk and avant-garde composition.”
THE QUIETUS
“Her sonic tales are timeless, etched into the wood from the fabric of the rivers and soil. It’s an incredible feat and an incredible record.”
FOXY DIGITALIS
“wherever you happen to be listening to Cannell’s music, you are there, surrounded by trees and the music, with all its hidden intentions, emerging from within its branches.”
CAUGHT BY THE RIVER
LAURA CANNELL Composer | Performer 