Anna Meredith

South London-based composer Anna Meredith earned her stripes as a composer-in-residence for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Her avant-garde compositions straddle the line between classical and contemporary taking in a plethora of genre and instruments along the way

Meredith’s latest song R-Type is a sweaty, shapeshifting composition. “With R-Type I was trying to write something punchy, driving and raw, that flips between the relentless rising scale figure you hear being hammered out on guitars, cello and clarinet to great rolling synth lines with a sense of shape and build.” She told us about the track, “Incidentally, it took me about 500 takes to get that clarinet line right, clearly not quite got the chops I once had. I love playing this track live too and consider it a bit of a failure if the entire band aren’t drenched in sweat by the end.”

Get the first listen in the player on the left and pick up her latest album Varmints when it comes out on 4 March via Moshi Moshi.