Penelope Trappes A Requiem
Penelope Trappes's A Requiem opens as a ritual of mourning that turns private trauma into a communal, cinematic lament. Critics agree the record earns its power through austere, churchified and seaworn textures that foreground themes of ancestry, grief, womanhood and ritual. Across three professional reviews the collection garnered a 79.67/100 consensus score, with reviewers repeatedly pointing to songs that act as emotional lodestars.
The critical consensus highlights several standout tracks as the record's clearest revelations: “Platinum” and “Bandorai” recur as best songs on A Requiem, praised for glacial percussion and near-monastic, funeral-tinged drama, while “Torc”, “A Requiem” and “Sleep” are noted for cathartic climaxes and cello-driven atonal hits. Reviewers consistently praise the contrast of textures - monolithic drones against sudden, visceral clacks and cello slams - and emphasize the album's cinematic sweep and ritual cadence. Professional reviews describe moments of catharsis rather than tidy resolution, framing the record as both an elegy and an excavation of family strife and ancient, pagan tradition.
While admiration is widespread, critics temper praise with observations about the album's uncompromising severity; some find its slow, intimate study of grief deliberately unsettling, even divisive. Still, the critical reception suggests that for anyone asking "is A Requiem good?" or searching for a A Requiem review, the consensus points to a haunting, essential work in Trappes' catalog that rewards repeated, attentive listening.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Platinum
2 mentions
"this opposition is present early on the album on ‘Platinum’, with a low rumbling like a thunderstorm"— The Quietus
Bandorai
2 mentions
"like the Bandorai of the opening track, a ritual invocation of the ancient Celtic priestesses."— Pitchfork
Torc
2 mentions
"The album lurches toward resolution in the stunning "Torc", where the sound design comes to a head."— Pitchfork
this opposition is present early on the album on ‘Platinum’, with a low rumbling like a thunderstorm
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Bandorai
Platinum
Second Spring
Sleep
Anchor Us To Seabed Floor
Red Dove
Caro
A Requiem
Torc
Thou Art Mortal
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 3 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Penelope Trappes's A Requiem is an uncompromising ceremony that finds its clearest beauties in “Bandorai”, “Platinum” and the title track “A Requiem”. The review revels in monolithic, churchified textures and names those pieces as the album's lodestars, with “Bandorai” setting a mournful, near-monastic tone and “Platinum” supplying glacial, tombstone drums. The writing leans on stark, evocative images - sea-bottom creatures, pagan solace - to explain why these best tracks embody the record's lament and balm. Listen for the cinematic sweep and ritual cadence that make these songs the best tracks on A Requiem.
Key Points
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Bandorai is best because its mournful cello and near-monastic voices set the album's haunting, ceremonial tone.
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The album's core strengths are its cinematic, ritualized arrangements and thematic focus on womanhood, mourning and Mother Earth.
Themes
Critic's Take
Penelope Trappes's A Requiem is a slow, intimate study of grief where the best tracks - “Platinum” and “Sleep” - stage its tensions in vivid, unsettling detail. The reviewer's ear lingers on how “Platinum” pairs a low rumble with a visceral clack of percussion, and how “Sleep” uses cello and atonal slams to make its climactic refrain land like a punch. Elsewhere “Anchor Us To Seabed Floor” and “Red Dove” provide textural relief, moving the record from brutal close-up to a more ambient, seaworn distance. The tone throughout is admiring and measured, noting a lack of tidy resolution but praising the catharsis the songs achieve.
Key Points
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The best song, “Platinum”, captures the album’s dichotomy with thunderous low rumble and visceral percussion.
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The album’s core strength is its consistent exploration of grief through contrasting textures and evocative, cathartic vocals.
Themes
Critic's Take
Penelope Trappes’s A Requiem finds its best tracks in the funeral-tinged drama of “Bandorai”, the grotesque arpeggios of “Red Dove”, and the cathartic crest of “Torc”. The album leans into ancestry and ritual, and these standout songs crystallize that mood - each one a miniature rite that balances dread and beauty. Trappes’ voice and sparse instrumentation turn private therapy into communal ritual, which is why listeners asking "best songs on A Requiem" will find those three tracks most revealing.
Key Points
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The best song is "Torc" because its sound design culminates the album’s themes into a powerful, cinematic resolution.
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The album’s core strengths are its ritualistic atmosphere and emotional intensity, balancing dread and beauty.