Adam Peters

A MANUAL FOR THE 23RD STRING

In a corner of Guildford, where London loosens its grip—far from the ley lines but close enough to hear them hum—Adam Peters began bending sound into shapes that the Ancients had forgotten. Composer, cellist, synthesizer wrangler: a practitioner of multi-tracked rituals involving wood, wire, voltage, orchestra, and unclassifiable transmissions.

He formed his earliest unit, Disruptive Patterns, with Simon Raymonde (future Cocteau Twin, present-tense sonic mystic). This was the first stir of the engine.

THE BUNNYMEN YEARS: DAWN OF THE CELESTIAL CELLO

1983: Peters is summoned by Echo & The Bunnymen; initiates cello-piano-keyboard operations, and enters their recording temple with “Never Stop,” a single that climbs to number 15 and refuses to descend. Tours follow—US, Europe, the UK—culminating in a Royal Albert Hall offering where the songs of Ocean Rain are performed before they even exist on tape. Cameras roll. Fate does its thing.

Peters begins weaving strings and piano into the Bunnymen’s bloodstream. The first incarnation: “The Killing Moon” - a song whose destiny escapes the medium—films, myths, late-night radio transmissions. Then Paris: recording Ocean Rain with the Paris Symphony Orchestra. Peters conducts his own arrangements like someone who knows this is what he came to the planet to do.

He returns to the band across decades, including Ocean Rain with full orchestra at the Albert Hall in 2023, revisiting his own spells with older hands and sharper vision.

THE TRIFFIDS: SONGS FROM THE PERIMETER

Peters joins Australian outliers The Triffids, contributing to Born Sandy Devotional, Calenture, and The Black Swan. He writes with the late David McComb until the very end: two men pacing the edge of the map, sending back messages.

In 1990, Peters and McComb re-engineer Leonard Cohen’s “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On” into a hip-hop-flavoured contraption. Cohen himself approves—an event roughly equivalent to a blessing from an oracle.

THE FLOWERPOT MEN, DREAMS & NIGHT GARDENS

With Ben Watkins, Peters forms The Flowerpot Men, issuing three 12" electronic warnings to the world. Their track “Beat City” infiltrates Ferris Bueller’s Day Offand never fully leaves the culture.

He plays cello across every album by The Dream Academy, appears on Saturday Night Live, and later produces for Nick Laird-Clowes’ Trashmonk project inside Peters’ New York apartment, where songs grew like improbable houseplants.

He also briefly joins Siouxsie & The Banshees for a one-offritual at St. James Church, Piccadilly—because why

NEW YORK: DISPATCHES FROM THE CENTER FOR THE DULL

In 1991, Peters relocates to New York City and, three years later, forms Family Of God with Chris Brick. They sell out the Luna Lounge every Monday for a year. The New York Times reports “mesmerizing psychedelic rock meets mystic disco”. Three albums: the first one sounds like a cult that forgot to die; the second one is a supermarket that stocks only apocalypse; and the third one escaped and they’re still chasing it.

He then forms the electronic duo Neulander with Austrian artist Korinna Knoll—issuing Sex, God and Money and Smoke + Fire—with the title track landing on John Peel’s Festive Fifty (where only the chosen are invited). They tour Europe as a two-person voltage storm.

Peters also contributes to Beth Orton (Daybreaker), Mercury Rev (The Secret Migration), Fischerspooner (Odyssey), Anika Moa, and Lloyd Cole—appearing like a benevolent ghost in many artists’ control rooms.

HOLLYWOOD: THE CINEMATIC OPERATIONS

2011: Oliver Stone discovers Peters’ instrumental transmissions. A portal opens. Peters writes for the movies Savages, Snowden, The Untold History of the United States, South of the Border.

More commissions appear from the ether: Paddington, Rango, Sand Castle, Shantaram, Mountain Queen, and others. Even Hans Zimmer taps him on the shoulder.

But Peters begins to shift—moving away from the Hollywood sheen toward a hybrid of minimalist strings and left-field electronics, a system of controlled implosions.

Then comes Icarus. Peters scores the documentary in real time as the story mutates and the world changes. The film wins an Oscar. The partnership with director Bryan Fogel expands into The Dissident and Icarus: Aftermath.

2020 brings Fantastic Fungi, an electro-acoustic metamorphosis with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, because mushrooms always win.

He scores Paper and Glue for the artist JR, then during lockdown composes for Hostages, Mountain Queen, Never Let Him Go.

2024: Apple commissions him for the 12-part Shantaram series, merging Western instruments recorded in his studio with Indian musicians recorded in Chennai.

He rejoins Echo & The Bunnymen again in 2024 for more Ocean Rain symphonic ceremonies.

2025: Peters scores Slauson Rec, premiering at Cannes, mapping the rise and fall of Shia LaBeouf’s experimental acting group in Compton.

He is currently constructing sound for Fogel’s 2026 documentary on the global fentanyl trade—a project requiring equal parts courage and circuitry.

EQUIPMENT (THE ALTAR)

Peters performs with:

● An electric cello fitted with humbucker pickups (a chaos wand)

● An Italian classical cello by Andrea Caccia of Mantova (for the spirits)

● Moog and Roland analog synthesizers (for the machines)

● Sound-design programs that stretch audio until it becomes something else entirely

The work continues. The signals persist. The 23rd string vibrates.