Anna Calvi will release scores for Peaky Blinders Season 5 and Season 6 January 26th via via Domino Soundtracks, ahead of the album’s releases she has shared the lead-track from Season 6, track “Miquelon.”

Peaky Blinders: Season 5 & 6 (Original Score) marks the first ever score work by Anna Calvi: “Composing for Peaky Blinders was about atmosphere and space. There’s so much nuance when it comes to scoring to picture. It’s more about what you leave out than what you leave in. I had to let the voice of the actors do the talking but find ways of bringing out the emotion within that. I became completely obsessed with Tommy Shelby, I dreamt about him every night whilst I was working on the scores, I had to really inhabit the show.”

Having been initially commissioned to write the score for Season 5 in 2019, Calvi’s arrangements were a perfect match with Peaky Blinders and led her to being brought back on board to work on the show’s final ever season in 2022. Calvi explains further: “There is a duality to the show, of beauty and brutality, which I had been exploring in my own music. I’m fascinated by the manipulation of emotions with sound, it’s so mysterious. I really tried to explore this with Peaky Blinders, sometimes putting the opposite music than you would expect on a scene had the most impact.”

Peaky Blinders: Season 5 & 6 (Original Score) comprises 37 tracks taking in different members of The Shelby Company Limited as well as newer characters such as Oswald Mosley. The album also includes the previously released original songs “You’re Not God” and the swaggering “Ain’t No Grave” as well as Calvi’s cover of “Red Right Hand,” the Peaky Blinders theme song by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds as well as the previously shared “Black Tuesday.” These all highlight Calvi’s visceral guitar but elsewhere, there are also tender, delicate moments of piano accompanied by her compelling voice as well as shadows of foreboding as the show enters a turbulent time in British history.

On Season 5, Anna composed everything herself and performed it largely herself including vocals, guitar, violin, piano, percussion and harmonium. Talking about the process, Calvi adds: “For Season 6 I wanted to bring more musicians on board for a fresh take, and I wanted to find a new musical voice for Tommy. I decided to bring in Nick Launay to work with me – he had produced my last album ‘Hunter’.” Alongside Nick Launay, Calvi also worked with Peaky Blinders director Anthony Byrne who acted as music supervisor, executive producer and musical arranger, Imogen Harrison as post-production producer and Nigel Heath as sound mixer on the score Season 6.

“What I learnt most from writing for Peaky Blinders is to trust my instincts. I realised I shouldn’t be afraid of simplicity, and I shouldn’t assume that if something happens quickly, that the quality is compromised. This whole experience was so wonderful and so intense. I’m so proud of my scores for Peaky Blinders and I would love for this work to be a signpost for future generations of female composers.” The completion of the score marks a tremendous achievement for Calvi and showcases a composer and artist still unlocking and unveiling their full capabilities.

Anna Calvi

Season 5 – Tracklisting:

You’re Not God
Tommy’s Requiem #1
Tommy’s Plan
Death Is A Kindness
Black Tuesday
I Don’t Like The Life
Moseley #1
Ruby’s Birthday
Grace
There Ain’t No Grave
We Don’t Like The Life
The Execution
Do What The Voices Tell You
Moseley #2
Retribution
Reckoning
Tommy’s Requiem #2

Anna Calvi & Nick Launay

Season 6 – Tracklisting:

Miquelon
Esme
Under The Maple Tree
Gina
Ain’t No Grave
The Sanatorium
Mosley
Where Will You Go
Pledge Your Allegiance
Arthur
Esme’s Dream
Ruby Has A Fever
Jail And Perfume
Michael’s Plan
Red Right Hand
The Eleventh Hour
Opium
Goodbye Billy
Legacy

Peaky Blinders: Season 5 & 6 (Original Score) is available to pre-order HERE