Meredith Yayanos is a liberationist, musician, composer, editor and multimedia storyteller who lives in California with her gnomic luthier beau and their tiny, ferocious Muppet dog, Gimli.
Hear Meredith’s goosebump-raising music here
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:11:09]:
Welcome to Tarot DMs with Finbarre. Today, the cards will be hearing from the Queen of Uncanny Sound.
Meredith Yayanos is a composer, violinist, thereminist, vocalist, audio engineer and multimedia storyteller whose work has moved across music, photography, film, journalism and sound design.
They created and directs the haunted chamber music project The Parlour Trick, co-founded Coilhouse, and has collaborated with artists including Faun Fables, The Walkmen, Beats Antique and Feminazgûl. Their screen work includes The Mill at Calder’s End and Real Artists.
More recent projects include music and audio engineering for Liminal Flares.
Lately, Meredith has been writing about something perhaps harder than making things: slowing down, recovering and finding a restorative way to create.
So what happens when someone who has spent years working with sound, atmosphere and the uncanny hands the conversation over to three random cards?
Meredith Yayanos, welcome to Tarot DMs.
Reaction: Meredith 🥹
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:12:41]:
Hello, Finbarre. Oh, it’s an honor.
Reaction: Finbarre ❤️
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:14:01]:
Meredith, while I’m sitting here drinking this Beavertown Laser Crush Alcohol-Free IPA on a Sunday evening, because I’ve got work tomorrow, and setting up the cards, please tell me, as a bonus question: how are you preparing for Halloween?
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:16:29]:
You’re being very responsible. So am I. I have to hustle right now. Halloween season is one of my busiest seasons, even these days.
And it was just Bandcamp Friday a couple of days ago. So I promised everyone who ordered vinyl that I would get it to them well before Halloween, so that they could have their spooky haunted house music playing for trick-or-treaters or whatever.
So that’s my main Halloween-related activity of the moment.
And there’s been a huge, heinous heatwave here in San Diego, California. So I haven’t bought my pumpkins yet, but I will shortly be making some jack-o’-lanterns, basically.
As soon as the weather gets a little cooler, I’m going to make at least a couple of jack-o’-lanterns with my fella.
And beyond that, not a lot going on. I compulsively make costumes all the time, and so there’s not really a big difference between October and June in that regard.
I’m always making some weird mask or garment or cape compulsively.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:19:00]: I think I might do a Swamp Witch type thingummer this year to match my fancy new fretless electric bass! Aforementioned fella, Sean Crawford, is a brilliant luthiere
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:19:26]:
Reaction: Finbarre 😍
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:19:46]: He named her Swamp Witch.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:20:15]:
Beach Crone!
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:22:00]:
Would you look at that beautiful creation? It looks almost radiant against the blue. What a fabulous instrument.
I have a question to ask you about those pumpkins, because in the north of England, where I spent my childhood, my parents would buy us turnips. Now, I don’t even know if Americans have turnips.
At Halloween, trying to carve them is a little bit like trying to whittle wood or hack into soft stone. And you would end up with these unfortunate, lumpen expressions. These things would look like Gollum’s unfortunate aunt.
What kind of carvings are you going to create? Are we looking at sigils? Are we looking at signs? Faces of the neighbours?
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:22:26]: Turnips! Yes!
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:22:57]: Hilariously, I’ve done that myself. They look like something out of a Tobe Hooper movie!
Reaction: Finbarre 🪝
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:25:58]:
I think I’m probably just going to wing it. I usually do. I go to the grocery store or the pumpkin patch and I pick out one or two that are pleasing to look at or to smack. You got to give those gourds a nice healthy smack, don’t you?
And then I, yeah, usually a lot, there are usually a lot of teeth, lots of big gaping mouths full of teeth. I don’t know what that’s about, but it’s on brand.
Hehehe!
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:27:40]: Sorry, I gots da giggles.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:28:13]: Can’t recall the last time I sat for an interview!
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:29:47]:
This is an educational experience. I didn’t realise that, you know, those teeny-weeny little pumpkins that you get, I didn’t realise they had so many names, like Jack-Be-Little, Wee-B-Little, Baby Boo and Munchkin.
My goodness. Every day’s a school day. We haven’t even got any cards out yet.
Right. We need to sort this out, Meredith. I have your first one. This is the card that everyone will be getting this month, and we’re using The Rocky Horror Show Tarot Deck. And this is by Christopher March and Diane Amorelli.
So, if you’re ready, I’m going to place this onto the album cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Kaleidoscope, because why not?
And here it is.
Reaction: Meredith 🎃
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:30:03]:
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:30:15]: GASP!!!!!
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:30:34]: Ohhhh, PERFECT.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:30:42]: Love that record, too.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:31:38]: RIP, Tim Curry.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:31:41]: How do you feel getting The Emperor as the first card?
Reaction: Meredith 🙌
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:34:45]:
I’m elated and I’m fascinated and I’m really interested in how the person behind this deck came up with Dr. Frankenfurter for the Emperor.
It makes a kind of perverse sense.
But also I think so much of that character in relationship to chaos, you know, to being out of control, to releasing yourself from rigidity or a need to dominate.
So that’s a fascinating interpretation.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:36:27]: I mean… Doctor F is definitely domineering, and has tremendous authority, so that tracks!
Reaction: Finbarre 💯
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:37:12]:
Dr. Frankenfurter does say that he will construct the ideal man according to his own design in seven days.
All right, Meredith, my question from the Emperor for you is short and sweet, and it is what type of leader are you?
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:37:26]: Yessss.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:38:27]: Hopefully not one with an icepick and a Medusa Transducer
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:38:46]:
Oh, geez. A reluctant leader these days. I’m not sure that that was always the case, but I vastly prefer working in collective, intuitive, fluid collaboration.
I know that leadership is always necessary in one form or another. I just don’t know that I am naturally inclined towards leadership. I don’t, yeah. Wow. Great question.
And I may be answering that piecemeal over the course of this conversation, if that’s all right, because that’s kind of a depth charge. It’s going to take me a minute to really process that and respond more consciously.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:40:51]: Shoutout to Magenta, my fellow frizzy-haired petrifying freak!
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:42:39]: Tarot has an infuriating way of making us think of the important things that we’re otherwise distracted from by the day-to-day. We’ll come back to that one and draw from the Wild card next. Perhaps The Emperor will join in with another member of the Rocky Horror cast!
Reaction: Meredith 🖤
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:43:25]: From the Coilhouse days:
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:43:28]:
Reaction: Finbarre 😮
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:44:04]:
That is fantabulously dramatic. Meredith, I’d like you to reach from across the Atlantic and tell me when to say stop while I’m shuffling these cards. Let’s see what we get.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:44:49]: Halt!
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:45:51]: This is the back and if we flip this right over we get...
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:46:24]: Ooo. Inanna’s 8-pointed star on the back. Totes apropes!
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:46:59]: Ah, hello old friend. Coincidentally this is the same card as the pendant I’m wearing today
Reaction: Meredith 💙
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:47:55]:
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:48:09]: Aaaaa! HEAVY HITTERS, DAAANNNG
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:48:48]: Indeed, no “Four of Fluffy Bunnies” for YOU today
Reaction: Meredith 😂
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:48:51]:
So dramatic.
Yeah, another life.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:49:04]:
Wow, I love this card. Like, very personally, deeply, madly, truly love this card.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:49:29]: Directly to my left while I sit and chat with you, my college recital flyer 😂
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:49:56]: And a piece of music I’m mixing this week:
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:50:42]:
This one is called “The Fool, The Fury”, inspired by this card!
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:51:34]: And that’s a gorgeous pendant, too.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:52:08]: I HAVE GOOSEBUMPS. NO SERIOUSLY
Reaction: Meredith 🤗
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:52:19]:
Reaction: Meredith ✨
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:53:00]: Yay! I did something right!
Finbarre [2026-10-04 20:53:55]:
Wow, you did something right. Let me get my questions back into my mind.
Alright, we’re looking at The Fool. Somebody that you’ve either embodied or this energy has followed you throughout your life or possibly guided you.
So, with that thought, has following an impulse or happenstance changed your creative life?
Reaction: Meredith 🙏
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:57:30]:
I have embodied that card for sure, and I have been guided by that card my entire life. You are correct.
I would say yes, a thousand times yes. Following my impulses, my instincts, my intuitions has led me down a really rarefied and strange career path.
Not a very well-trodden path at times. There’s a lot of hacking away at the underbrush and crawling through tunnels with a knife in my teeth type action that occurs in tandem with following my instincts and my impulses.
But I get into much worse trouble when I ignore that magical sparkly fairyland voice that lives in the back of my head somewhere and whispers things to me.
Meredith [2026-10-04 20:59:32]: I’ve learned the hard way not to ignore my impulses.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:01:02]: Sometimes ya just gotta take that leap.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:01:57]:
While you’re standing at that creative precipice and gazing into the unknown, maybe the abyss, which small creature do you have at your side, just like The Fool?
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:02:18]: So many of the best things that have ever happened to me, both personally and professionally, only happened because I said “YEET!”
Reaction: Finbarre 😂
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:05:32]:
Oh, well, of course, that would be my tiny, scrappy, hilarious, lovable, cat-sized Muppet dog, Gimli Flower Yawford, who’s actually curled up right under my chair in a big pile of bubble wrap, waiting patiently for me to give him snugs.
I’ve also, I shit you not, been seriously considering having a tattoo artist create a version of him based on Pixie’s illustration from the Rider-Waite tarot deck for The Fool.
We all call it the Rider-Waite tarot, I know, but it’s always going to be the Pixie deck to me. And I love that little dog.
And I’m looking at that little dog right now on the flyer that’s on the side of the fridge.
I’m sorry, but I’m like, I’ve got goosebumps too.
What a great, what a great reading so far.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:05:52]:
Reaction: Finbarre 😮
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:06:32]: Here he is, anticipating chicken scraps while my sweetie fixes dinner
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:06:52]: Gimli Flower Yawford
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:07:00]: That isn’t a real dog. I have seen those before. That’s an electronic toy that barks three times and then backflips. SURELY.
Reaction: Meredith 😂
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:08:40]:
And then rocket launches himself at a Great Dane or a German Shepherd because that’s how Gimli rolls.
Such a little weirdo. Kind of like his mama.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:13:18]:
He came to us around the age of five.
We have no idea what happened to him in his previous life, but there was obviously a lot of trauma and neglect.
And when he’s out in the world navigating big, scary noises and smells and shapes, he’s very much in Gimli mode. He’s very ferocious and brave.
And then you take him home, and he’s a little sweet dollop of cuddly, fuzzy, pure joy.
We love him so much.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:14:43]:
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:15:50]:
Well, please give Gimli a little ruzzle from me.
Speaking of gifts, I was speaking to Michael Shapiro, who is a chap who was commissioned to create a movie score for the classic film Frankenstein, which is now being released.
At the end of the conversation, we were talking about the gift card, the one to pass on to you.
Now, as he didn’t decide on one, and as I haven’t decided on one, I’m thinking that perhaps you should gift one to yourself.
And I know you’ve got a tarot deck there. So reach into it, grab a card, take a picture of it, and then show me what you have.
And we’ll think of something to ask.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:18:13]:
Sure thing. One second.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:18:19]:
JUST LOOK AT THAT SCRAGGLY NONSENSE
Reaction: Meredith 😂
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:20:32]:
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:20:36]: Noice.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:20:57]: That’s comforting!
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:23:05]:
Ever since Covid lockdown, it’s been increasingly difficult for me to avoid feeling kind of lonely and left behind for a variety of reasons.
And I love that this card is showing up in this context at this point in time.
It is a beautiful reminder that collective, collaborative, non-hierarchical belonging is still very much at the center of my life.
Even if my career had to take a powder in order for that to happen more authentically and healthily.
Reaction: Finbarre ❤️
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:23:59]:
I mean, that’s the good good, right? I know you know.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:24:09]:
Meredith, the card that you’re looking at there is my card of the year. So, at the very beginning of the year, I pulled out from my deck the very same card, the Three of Cups, and then the very next day broke my leg.
And when I was recovering and making my way up the stairs, I happened to be carrying some tarot stickers, as you do, and one of them fluttered from the booklet and attached itself to the base of my stairs, where it still is: the Three of Cups.
So it is a very, very lucky card in many ways for me.
The Three of Cups, of course, is one of friendship, reunion and mutual support. And you may hear the sound of a piano being played in the background. I can hear that my wife has started tickling the ivories.
So my question to you is: what is more important, the work that you’ve made with people or the friendships that you’ve created and nurtured?
Reaction: Meredith 😮💨
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:25:37]: Oh, lovely! (The piano, I mean!)
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:29:12]:
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:29:49]: Incrediballs. How is your leg doing now?
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:33:20]:
Oh, thank you for asking. Well, it’s not too bad. I mean, I now have a substantial collection of fancy canes, which I didn’t have before. So that’s a plus. And for a good while, I was using what is basically a peg leg. So I was hobbling around like a pirate.
And now that I have metal plates and screws and all manner of interesting implants in my ankle, I feel like some kind of Wolverine, but more of a discount version, more of a Costco Wolverine.
And yeah, I’m able to walk around and it has made me realize that it made me stop. It made me think. And to be honest, it’s what started a whole adventure in tarot.
So while I was in bed taking some wonderful drugs, you know, of course, I was given Oramorph and a variety of interesting painkillers. I wrote an abstract, sent it to Goldsmiths, had it accepted and presented a paper at a tarot conference.
All because I was basically off my nut on morphine. So yeah, it was an interesting adventure, but now I’m able to walk around and I’m really appreciating it. Plus I get to twirl the cane while I do it.
Reaction: Meredith 🙌
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:33:38]:
Hands down, it’s the friendships. And then the best work that I’ve done tends to be a byproduct of those friendships. Those invariably are the pieces of work that I am most proud of.
And I’m happy to say that even after a whole lot of storm and stress and falling-outs and harsh career pivots, shall we say, I am still actively creating beautiful things with beautiful people that I’ve known since early childhood.
Right now, I’m working on music for LITVAKdance, which is directed by my friend Sadie Weinberg, who I’ve known since we were five years old.
And I’m also putting together a bunch of music for my childhood friend Maya Gurantz, who is a total juggernaut, multimedia artist, archivist, historian.
It’s a really interesting podcast about a very sketchy, weird, gross, sun-worshipping cult called Mazdaznan that peaked in popularity in the early 20th century and still apparently has some active members.
It’s been really amazing to have the opportunity to still be making creative work with these folks who have known me since we were literally knee-high and running around like little pixies.
Reaction: Finbarre ❤️
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:35:12]: Oof! BRUTAL. Can relate.
Reaction: Finbarre 😮
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:37:26]: Canes are hot.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:38:06]: Are you allowed to own a sword cane in the UK these days?
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:38:35]:
Sean requires a cane on some of his wobblier days, and he always looks so dapper with his walking stick.
I really wish that we were allowed to have sword canes. Those things are so badass.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:41:24]:
Are you allowed to own a sword cane in the UK these days?
Sadly not - a good friend of mine inherited a sword cane and it cannot legally leave the house. A shame as it makes the most wonderful swish! One of my favourite canes is this one that was issued to an officer in WW1 when he was discharged from hospital at the end of the war and the wear on this Edwardian beauty shows it took a step with him every day. It has been lovingly repaired over and over (which I think applies to the best friendships too)
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:41:45]:
Reaction: Meredith ❤️
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:41:48]: Amen, brother.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:42:01]: Oh, that’s a beaut.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:42:54]: Yep, as my lit professor, the Joyce scholar Clark Rodewald loved to say: “No throwaways.”
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:43:15]: I’m here for the wabi sabi for sure.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:45:21]: I experience something akin to holy reverence when I’m holding a well-loved, oft-repaired object.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:47:10]:
Speaking of well-loved and oft-repaired objects, the piano downstairs, which has recently been tuned and filled the house with gorgeous music, has stopped.
Which means my children will be going to bed.
And that means I’ll need to disappear off and read stories with monster voices and give my kids a cuddle.
So, we need to work out which card you’re going to be handing on to the next guest.
You’ve got a beautiful deck there. I’d like you to pull out the gift card, the one that’s going to be handed on to the next person. I could just hear my youngest humming up and down the stairs there.
And yeah, we’ll see what the card is.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:47:46]: Living your best life. Bravo.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:48:06]: Will do! Be right back!
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:49:43]:
Ooh, it’s a good one.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:50:05]: Oh no
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:50:11]: Gosh no
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:50:23]:
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:51:41]:
What a wonderful gift, a card of calibration that sums up “nothing in excess”
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:53:13]: Indeed. Yus. It always makes me think of my darling friend Angeliska Polacheck of Sister Temperance Tarot in Austin, TX. Definitely look them up! PS: Augustus the psychopomp Strohviol sends his regards to your family piano.
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:55:27]: Finbarre, it has been such a joy to chat with you! It’s been a heavy week. Honestly, you and the cards have cheered me up immensely!
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:56:14]:
Says you, you’ve just produced a fabulous card with a wonderful company.
Thank you so much, Meredith, for joining me on Tarot DMs. I’m glad that the cards brought a smile and Gimli has claimed my heart.
I have to say, please give that insy, fluffy nonsense a scritch and a cuddle from me.
And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.
Reaction: Meredith ❤️
Meredith [2026-10-04 21:57:38]:
Thank you so much.
Gimli and I are going to go brave the heat wave and talk to my crow friends.
And then we’re going to fix a lovely dinner all together and probably watch a spooky movie.
Have a beautiful evening.
Finbarre [2026-10-04 21:59:43]:
One of the great things about this project is that you get to start conversations with strangers from around the world that you don’t want to end.
Like this evening.
Meredith Yayanos has spent years making work that lingers after it ends, with haunted chamber music, unsettling sound worlds, strange stories and collaborations that blur the line between composition, performance and atmosphere. Through The Parlour Trick, they’ve created music that feels as though something playing in the room has always been waiting there.
And more recently, Meredith has been writing about what happens when that pace changes, when productivity stops being the measure, and when recovery is part of the work. When making something slowly matters more than the next thing.
So that makes Temperance feel like a particularly apt card to leave behind as a gift. A card of balance, a card of restoration, of finding the right measure.
You can find Meredith’s music through The Parlour Trick, and follow their current work and writing through Patreon.
Meredith Yayanos, thank you for letting the tarot interview you.