Photo by Chantal Anderson

Meara O'Reilly is a composer and artist, focusing on perception and new musical interfaces. Her Hockets for Two Voices EP 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 EP for Talkhouse, saying it “sends you, moves you, destroys you with beauty“.

Most recently, she wrote, performed, and recorded vocal arrangements for several tracks on the Fleet Foxes album, Shore.

She is co-creator of the Rhythm Necklace app, a musical sequencer that uses two-dimensional geometry to create rhythm. O’Reilly is the author of Illusion Songs, an online collection of auditory illusions as found in indigenous folk music traditions and scientific research. In 2013 she completed her first permanent exhibit at the Exploratorium, entitled 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, and the Bauhaus Dessau. 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, 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.

In addition to performing and designing installations, Meara has co-curated content and taught at San Francisco children's camp 'A Curious Summer', and written for Make Magazine, Boingboing, and the SFMoma's Open Space Blog. 

Meara was a member of the Trout Gulch land project, where she built a tiny house with her partner. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

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