Anna Prior

Anna Prior, DJ and Metronomy musician, shares single "True For You" & announces details of Firefly; a brand new five-track EP, set for release 26th February 2026 on Beat Palace Records.

“True For You” pulsates with soft euphoria, as Prior weaves gently cascading synths with her own vocal declarations, composing a sensual, sophisticated drama about “letting other people's differing truths sit alongside your own.” Heartfelt, undoubtedly, but nonetheless carrying a distinct club energy.

“"True For You” - sonic proof that the truth is easier to swallow when synthesised and sung out loud,"

says Anna Prior.

Returning to her own Beat Palace imprint for the first time since its inception, Prior utilises this vital platform to refine her own craft across her new EP; exploring new moods and styles, balancing playfulness with vulnerability, shadow and light.

“Firefly is a collection of moments - some fleeting and some stubbornly lingering… each track came together almost by accident, but now feels to me like they've always belonged together.”

says Anna Prior

Beyond her solo releases, Prior is also branching out into soundtracks and composition work. To mark the 10th anniversary of David Bowie's death, she was commissioned by The Cinema Batalha in Porto to produce and perform a live soundtrack to accompany The Cabinet of Dr Caligari; the 1920s silent film that greatly influenced Bowie. Interpolating and reworking Bowie’s music, the screening will take place in Porto on 10th January 2026.

Title track “Firefly” was written alongside co-producer Matt Karmil and unfolds as a spoken-word piece, investigating memory, “the tricky mirror that reveals more than it conceals.” Throughout, Prior’s inquisitive, native Yorkshire accent anchors a wide-eyed soundscape that gradually, impressively escalates into the cinematic.

EP centrepiece “Silence” turns this approach inside out, escalating the tempo and revealing a DnB-influenced shade of Prior’s work that is certain to surprise and impress, scattering elegant syllables amongst serious soundsystem pressure as Prior navigates the feeling of being ghosted; by friends, lovers and even her own work.

“No More Drama” returns to pop, presenting a bold cover of the Mary J. Blige classic that inverts the original’s unmatched intensity for a more serene, but no less affecting, rendition.

While closer “Beside You” delivers one last, sublime blend of Prior’s songwriting and sequencing instincts, a simple pop incantation that coaxes dancers into a soft trance while concluding with a reminder from Prior that “amid life’s unanswered calls and fleeting highs, there is always space to feel safe and unjudged.”

Anna Prior is so much more than just the drummer in globally successful band Metronomy; she’s a DJ and musician in her own right and her monthly radio show, Beat Palace, on London’s Soho Radio has many devoted listeners.

Prior began her career in music more than 20 years ago, perfecting her craft and gaining invaluable experience as a performer in the live music scene - more notably with Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange and with her friends and co-conspirators Metronomy, with whom she has been going steady for over a decade.

Her solo efforts really took form and shape during the pandemic. Forced to slow down and stay home without her main instrument, she reached for a borrowed two-octave midi keyboard and began what she described as a ‘very primitive’ exploration of creating the kind of electronic music she’d been championing on her radio show.

Described as an ‘explorative mission into the rhythmic unknown,’ in lockdown that mission became a more personal one as she built her knowledge and honed her skills with consistent releases and remixes; chipping away to reveal her musical identity.

Debut solo EP Almost Love was released on House Anxiety in spring 2024. Supremely accessible and with a clear pop sensibility, it hinted at a ‘90s musical education but with a contemporary take on electronic and digital music that incorporates the nostalgic keyboard and synth textures that somehow take you back both to the ‘80s and the mid-2000s at the same time.

Prior’s sparkly vocals lent a yearning quality to that release that encouraged you to lose (or perhaps find) yourself in the dreamy beats, yet picked you back up again with its classic dancefloor energy. Rather than reject that pull to pop in favour of ‘cooler’ techno beats, Prior embraced it.  This is what happens when a drummer gets locked down with a keyboard.

Lyrically inspired by the existential poetry of 19th and 20th century Portuguese romantics, which she discovered during treasured time spent in Lisbon, Prior writes about things, people and moments being just out of reach; of ‘almost’ being there, but not just yet. Not quite.

A natural creative collaborator, once lockdown ended Anna could share the fruits of her experimentation and exploration, working with James Greenwood (Ghost Culture), Luis Clara Gomes (Moullinex) and Jules Rosset (PPJ/Povoa) on Almost Love and later I.Jordan, Mörmaid and Matt Karmil on the forthcoming Firefly.

The desire to start her own record label had been brewing over the many years she spent on the other side of the music industry. Curious about this mysterious other world and becoming more and more inspired by the music she played on her radio show, Anna took the plunge a few years ago and founded Beat Palace Records.

Having transitioned between London, Lisbon and back again as a DJ and producer in recent years, Prior remains an essential and independent force in alternative and electronic music culture. And the current epicentre of this creativity is undoubtedly Beat Palace.

Formed in 2021 and with a logo designed by her sister, Kate Prior, Beat Palace showcases the talent and diversity of FLINTA producers carving an esoteric space within alt-pop and electronic music.