PEREL
For as long as she can remember, Annegret Fiedler has created electronic melodies to soundtrack her daydreams. Drawing on her early love for brooding synth pop and new wave, she became Perel, an electronic producer, vocalist and DJ who spent much of the 2010s shaping her sound – and to just praise. As well as being the first German artist to sign to James Murphy’s seminal dance- punk label DFA Records, Perel has performed internationally as a live act and DJ, from the floors of throbbing techno clubs to major city festivals across Europe.
Growing up in the East German state of Saxony, she learned how to write songs on her grandmother’s piano, inspired by the androgyny and impactful minimalism of Annie Lennox, the playfulness of Kraftwerk and the melancholic power of The Cure, among others. Moving to Halle in her teens, Fiedler spent her time between university classes dancing at warehouse raves and singing with local bands, blasting out electro pop with punk rock energy.
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Later drawn to Berlin and its underground club scene, she took on the persona of Perel writing, producing and singing on solo material for labels like O*RS, Permanent Vacation, Correspondant and Uncanny Valley. In an ever- evolving club scene with myriad faces, Perel stood out by singing over her DJ sets, bridging the mood of her own live sound with her selections.
Perel drifted into the orbit of the heads of DFA Records, who released her debut solo album Hermetica in the spring of 2018. Her sound has a natural kinship with DFA: cosmic disco basslines undulate as thumping techno synths drive home the message of her hooks and refrains, ghostly vocalisations that speak of romance, dread and power.
All told, Perel’s music is deeply evocative – the kind of timeless sound you want to slide into the tape deck of a drop-top, letting the pulse of her noir beats accompany you haring down the Autobahn, as the sun sets over the horizon.
