Penelope Trappes

PENELOPE TRAPPES

UK based Australian born vocalist, musician and ethereal soundscaper

The release of Penelope Three in 2021 marked the final instalment of Trappes’ quietly mesmerising, acclaimed trilogy. 2016 was spent writing and recording what would become Penelope One in a small piano studio in East London. Composed of mostly percussionless, reverb-heavy, haunting atmospherics with dystopian themes, the LP was released via Optimo Music in 2017. Signed to the stellar Houndstooth label, the second album ‘Penelope Two’ was released in 2018, a minimalist album built around field recordings, meditations, guitars, piano and reverb, which deals with mortality, predestination and empathy. 2019 saw the release of ‘Penelope Redeux’ consisting of reworks of songs from ‘Penelope Two’ by uncompromising artists, including Cosey Fanni Tutti, Mogwai, Félicia Atkinson and Nik Colk Void. The ‘Eel Drip’ EP was released in 2020 and Penelope Three, the final epigenetic-themed instalment of the trilogy, was released in May 2021 with a long string of UK tourdates, culminating in a live performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra at London’s Sounthbank Centre. ‘Mother’s Blood’, a vocal-free meditative reinterpretation of ‘Penelope Three’ was released on cassette at the end of that year.

Most recent announcement – the first release on Trappes’ new imprint, Nite Hive Tapes. The label will launch with Heavenly Spheres on April 14th, an 8-piece album recorded during a two-week residency for Britten Pears Arts at the house where the composer, teacher and musicologist Imogen Holst lived in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.

“Heavenly Spheres is the result of me experimenting with only voice, an upright piano and an old German reel to reel tape deck. I immersed myself in solitude and often deafening silence, and coexisted with an enormous amount of history and books. I grew to love this unfamiliar space as I recorded sound outside of my normal way of working, took long and sometimes psychedelic walks, channelled ghosts on tape, and ended up with about 35 pieces of music and sound art. This album is 8 of those pieces which I fell in love with.”

It is an often-delicate study with unearthed sounds seemingly rising from the integrated tape hiss. Across the 8 pieces, disembodied voices and delicate piano figures dance around hypnagogic songs at the edge of consciousness.

Nite Hive is a new imprint, designed as a label run by – and for – women and gender nonconforming artists to allow the free exploration of their approach to experimental music. Nite Hive aims to expand the template by welcoming audio work from the edges of sound, art and beyond – creating without restriction nor question to shift paradigms within the music industry. All of these will be released digitally and on limited-edition cassette tape – accompanied by a podcast interview with each artist about their creative process. The first five releases will be by artists – Patricia Wolf, Pefkin, Karen Vogt, and Madeliene Cocolas.

“Summoning the great ghosts of vintage 4AD and Kranky, the Australian singer and producer makes inky dream pop that’s as heavy and welcoming as a weighted blanket.” – Philip Sherburne (Pitchfork)