Gazelle Twin & PRIZMA9 remix Penelope Trappes

Penelope Trappes   Remix album ‘Opvs Novum: A Requiem Reworked’ out May 29th via One Little Independent Records   Feat. Julia Holter, Saint Etienne, Gazelle Twin, Midwife, and more   Single ‘Sleep (Gazelle Twin & PRIZMA9 Rework)’ out now   Smartlink Spotify Youtube

“Trappes has centered herself in the narrative while solidifying a sound that was already spellbinding to begin with” – Pitchfork   “A striking work of evolution and deconstruction… meticulous with fine detail, and trusting of the supernatural forces that elevate it.” – The Wire   “Starkly intimate and surreal - like watching yourself mourn intense tragedy from an outsider’s vantage point... unsettling in a way that feels magical” – Bandcamp   Arriving on May 29th, ‘Opvs Novum: A Requiem Reworked’ finds Penelope Trappes inviting a carefully chosen circle of kindred spirits to dismantle and reanimate the funereal intensity of her fifth full-length album ‘A Requiem’. Conceived as more than a conventional remix record, the project reframes the original work through ten distinct artistic voices.   Where the original album was stark, ritualistic, and inward facing, these reinterpretations expand its emotional architecture. Klara Lewis and Flora Yin-Wong sculpt their tracks into glacial drones, Gazelle Twin and PRIZMA9 heighten the gothic unease, while Midwife and Julia Holter draw out its devotional melancholy into something almost hymnal. Contributions from Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire), Saint Etienne, Smote, Dania, and Sarahsson underline Trappes’ unique position between sacred lament and avant electronic ritual, transforming her songs into a series of spectral mirrors that refract grief through industrial pulse, haunting ambience, and dream state pop.   Of the new remix for ‘Sleep’, Elizabeth Bernholz (Gazelle Twin) tells us; “We love the drama and suspense in Sleep because it is so enveloping, like teetering on the edge of a canyon under the stars. To give a sense of travelling elsewhere, PRIZMA9 added a propulsive heavy beat with some intense reversed breaths and percussion, as if the song has reprised on an endless dark road with Gazelle Twin’s expanded vocals like some wandering souls hitching a ride.”   Trappes says; “If there is such a thing as past lives, I’m sure Gazelle Twin and I have met before. Kindred Spirits… To have her rework ‘Sleep’ with PRISMA9 was such a perfect fit. The new version brings a distinct power to the song that makes its sound infinitely spacious and epic, without sacrificing the horror! I absolutely adore its new impact.”   She expands; “It takes a collective energy to bring anything to life, and some of my favourite artists came together to bring their own beautifully unique energy to reinvent ‘A Requiem’. I wanted Opvs Novum to feel like an original album with an aura all of its own.   The ten artists here exploring these themes of death and grief are humans who have inspired and supported me. It means so much to bring them all together, and I am infinitely humbled by their transcendental creations. I thank you all. As we all comprehend our own collective grief in a world that would rather keep us separated and fearful, I hope this can be a small testament to what it means to reimagine a collective hymnal spirit.”   2025’s ‘A Requiem’ was a musical service in honour of the dead, a sanctuary Trappes built for herself to explore familial chaos and history. “I was looking for an equilibrium between a ‘heaven’ and a ‘hell’,” she explained at the time of release, “screaming out to the wisdom of our foremothers, surfacing and leading me into true strength and beauty. I listened to the sorrow closely. Death is a part of our reality. Inevitable. Omnipresent. But nightmares can be beautiful.”   The album received support from the likes of Pitchfork, The Wire, MOJO, Uncut, Record Collector, Bandcamp Daily, NPR, PROG, Electronic Sound, The Line of Best Fit, Crack, Clash Magazine, Nowness, Stereogum, Gorilla vs Bear, Resident Advisor, Futurism Restated, BBC Radio 3’s Unclassified, 6 Music’s Forever Dark, New Music Fix Daily, Lauren Laverne, Deb Grant, Tom Ravenscroft, and many more.   Despite formal vocal training in opera and jazz when she was younger, it was not until after her daughter was born that Penelope began writing her own music. She says coming into music later has been eye-opening, and she laments the fact that women past 30 are too often discarded by the music industry. “Creativity doesn’t go away when you get older, it flourishes, changes and grows like all of life,” she says. “It amazes me that this is still something for society to wrap its head around.”   Penelope released her acclaimed trilogy, ‘Penelope One’, ‘Two’ and ‘Three’, on Fabric’s Houndstooth label. In between instalments of the trilogy, she released a series of experimental EPs. She demonstrated her versatility in the extended 25-minute deep listening composition ‘Gnostic State’, and the arpeggiated electronics and minimalism on the ‘Eel Drip’ EP, inspired by Francesca Woodman’s self-portraits with eels. She also released an album of reworks, ‘Penelope Redeux’, with contributions from Cosey Fanni Tutti, Mogwai and Félicia Atkinson, and the cassette ‘Mother’s Blood’, a vocal free reinterpretation of ‘Penelope Three’, concluding with the live scoring of a one-hour film at Sonica Festival.   Penelope’s fourth album, ‘Heavenly Spheres’, was released in 2023 on her own Nite Hive imprint. It was composed using just piano, voice and an old reel-to-reel tape deck during a two-week artist residency for Britten Pears Arts. 2024’s ‘Hommelen’, the austere and beautifully severe result of her Halldorophone residency at EMS Stockholm, was released on Paralaxe Editions.   In the live realm, Penelope’s music expands into tidal waves and surges of tension between bouts of drastic heaviness. She has shared the stage with the likes of William Basinski, Mary Lattimore, Midwife, and HTRK, and has extensively toured the UK, Australia, and Europe over the last five years, including a pivotal live performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra at Southbank Centre.   Photo credit: Paul Kelly & Agnes Haus   Art credit: Jason Renaud & Agnes Haus   Tracklist   Bandorai (Klara Lewis Rework) Platinum (Saint Etienne Rework) Second Spring (Flora Yin-Wong Rework) Sleep (Gazelle Twin & PRIZMA9 Rework) A Requiem (Midwife Rework) Anchor Us To Seabed Floor (Sarahsson Rework) Red Dove (Smote Rework) Caro (Stephen Mallinder Rework) Torc (Dania Rework) Thou Art Mortal (Julia Holter Rework)   Music credits   All original songs written by Penelope Trappes Mastered by Enyang Urbiks   Live dates   16 May - IT, Bari - Experimenta Festival   North American Tour with Witch Club Satan: 27 May - US, Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts 30 May - CA, Montreal, QC - Fairmount Theatre 31 May - US, Cambridge, MA - Sonia 02 Jun - US, Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage 03 Jun - US, New York City, NY - Bowery Ballroom 05 Jun - US, Pittsburgh, PA - Preserving Underground 06 Jun - US, Detroit, MI - El Club   US Headline Tour: 07 Jun - US, Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village 08 Jun - US, Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club 11 Jun - US, Seattle, WA - Vera Project 12 Jun - US, Portland, OR - Jack London Revue 14 Jun - US, San Francisco, CA - 4 Star Theatre 15 Jun - US, Los Angeles, CA - 2220 Arts   22 Aug - PT, Leira - Extramualhas Festival 19 Sep - DE, Duisburg - Platzhirsch Festival   Follow Penelope Trappes   Website X Facebook Instagram Bandcamp