Photo by Chantal AndersonMeara O'Reilly is a composer and artist, focusing on perception and new musical interfaces. Her Hockets for Two Voices album was released on Cantaloupe in 2019. It was named in several year-end best of lists, including Art Forum, Bandcamp, and Second Inversion. Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo reviewed the album for Talkhouse, saying it “sends you, moves you, destroys you with beauty“.
Her music served as score for Daniel Soares’ short film “Bad for a Moment”, which won Mention Spéciale at Cannes in 2024. She wrote, performed, and recorded vocal arrangements for several tracks on the 2020 grammy nominated Fleet Foxes album, Shore. Most recently, she co-created a musical primate language for Isaiah Saxon’s upcoming A24 fantasy film “The Legend of Ochi”.
She is co-creator of the Rhythm Necklace app, a musical sequencer that uses two-dimensional geometry to create rhythm. In 2013 she completed a permanent exhibit at the Exploratorium, titled Chladni Singing. Her collaboration with design firm Snibbe Interactive on sound-based 'cymatic' concert visuals for Björk's Biophilia album was included in the world tour.
Her work has been presented at Carnegie Hall, Bang on a Can, National Sawdust, Los Angeles' Walt Disney Hall, SF Davies Symphony Hall, the Bauhaus Dessau, and as part of Wild Up’s Endless Season. Selected past performances also include The Kitchen, SFMOMA, the Berkeley Art Museum, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in New York, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, opening for artists such as Beck, Kronos Quartet, Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, Lucky Dragons, Dirty Projectors, Deerhoof, Michael Hurley, Bill Callahan, Matmos, and Dinosaur Jr. She toured internationally as a solo musician and in the bands Feathers and Brightblack Morning Light.
CV