Penelope Trappes
“The work of Penelope Trappes derives its power from its profound focus, the single-minded pursuit of a highly specific vibe. Once your eyes adjust to the darkness, it becomes velvety and enveloping.” —Pitchfork
UK-based experimental vocalist, musician, and multi-instrumentalist Penelope Trappes, formally trained in opera and jazz in her youth, creates brooding atmospherics and unsettling poetics underpinned by subterranean drone. Her fifth full-length album, ‘A Requiem’ on London imprint, One Little Independent, collects ten haunting incantations of dreams and nightmares, of death and grief, as well as power and autonomy. Carnal, transcendent cello drones are used to exorcise generational traumas in an evocative and macabre piece of gothic experimentalism.
In between instalments of her acclaimed trilogy, ‘Penelope One’, ‘Two’ and ‘Three’, on Fabric’s Houndstooth label, Penelope released EPs, Eel Drip, and Gnostic State, as well as experimental albums, Heavenly Spheres in 2023 and Hommelen in 2024: recordings from Britten Pears arts, and EMS Stockholm residencies, respectively.
In the live realm, Penelope’s music expands into surges of distorted tension and operatic beauty. Select shows are accompanied by a live band, and at other times, performing solo, she has shared the stage with William Basinski, Mary Lattimore, HTRK, and Masma Dream World and more while extensively touring the UK, Australia, and Europe over the last five years, including a pivotal live performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra at Southbank Centre.
Maria BC
Ohio-born, Oakland, CA-based artist Maria BC (they/them) has slowly opened up their process over the years, moving from the one-room recording process of 2021 EP Devil’s Rain — careful not to disturb their roommates or neighbors — to the untreated apartment wanderings of Hyaline (2022, Father/Daughter), to the home of a family friend featuring an out-of-tune baby Steinway piano where they recorded their Sacred Bones debut, Spike Field (2023). 2026 will see the release of their sophomore Sacred Bones record Marathon — recorded across the West Coast, incorporating foley recordings of nature and creaking homes, out February 27th!
Marathon is a dynamic exploration of endurance, of pushing forward, resisting, observing and surviving. “For this record I decided to spend less time on production and recording and more time on songwriting,” Maria BC explains. “The result, I think, is more thematically consistent, lyrically speaking, and more concise… I set out to make something more dynamic and varied.
DOORS at 7:00PM | MUSIC at 8:00 PM