Penelope Trappes Releases OPVS NOVUM, a Full Rework of A Requiem

Penelope Trappes has never stayed in one place long. The move from the piano-and-reel-to-reel intimacy of Heavenly Spheres to the gothic weight of A Requiem already hinted at an artist comfortable reshaping her own sound. OPVS NOVUM: A Requiem Reworked takes that instinct further, handing the ten tracks of last year’s album to a set of guests who treat them less like remixes and more like raw material for new constructions.

The lineup skews experimental. Sarahsson strips “Anchor Us to Seabed Floor” of its voice, leaving only a cassette click before swelling into organ drones. Klara Lewis stretches “Bandorai” to more than double its length, pushing Trappes’ vocals lower into something less human. Flora-Lin Wong pulls back the density of “Second Skin” to uncover scrapes of guitar and shadow drones. Midwife lets field recordings rise to the surface on the title track, while Julia Holter extracts an odd tempo and what sounds like a church bell from “Thou Art Mortal.”

The album follows the original tracklist, with one swap: the title track moves from eighth to fifth. The sequencing feels like a missed opportunity. Grouping the darker ambient pieces together might have given the collection more shape. As it stands, the record lurches between styles. Dania brightens “Torc” with a warm guitar line and playful piano, turning it into something almost light. Stephen Mallinder quadruples the brief “Caro,” adding pulse and electronics until it becomes a different beast entirely. Even the late contributions from Gazelle Twin and PRIZMA9 refuse to settle.

The result is an album that’s less cohesive than A Requiem, but also less predictable. Trappes’ voice remains a guide through the transformations, even when it’s buried or bent. What holds OPVS NOVUM together isn’t a unified sound. It’s the sense that every contributor understood the source material well enough to know exactly where to break it.