Ava Trepeck Cast a Multi-Sensory Cinematic Spell with the Beach House-Level Textural Sorcery in ‘Sphinx’ –

Ava Trepeck created multi-sensory cinematography with her seminal ethereal pop single, Sphinx. The New York City-based alternative dream-pop artist, originally from Birmingham, Michigan, has a voice that could see her hailed as this generation’s Kate Bush, a sound that establishes her as talented as Beach House when it comes to alchemising intoxicatingly timbred melodies, and that touch of je ne sais quoi that makes her so stylistically hypnotic.

The soft, reverb-lush way every note drifts in hazy weightlessness through the retro-futuristic colour of the pastel-toned triumph is enough to make you feel as though you’re defying gravity as you drink in the dreamy, artful textures. Beneath the beauty, Sphinx carries a deeply considered emotional architecture, exploring divine union within the self and the balance of masculine and feminine energies as a route towards safety, freedom and inner equilibrium.

Trepeck’s background in psychology and cinematic arts at the University of Southern California gives the single its rare sense of psychic detail and visual depth. You can hear why Dora Jar, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Kate Bush and Miley Cyrus sit within her wider constellation of influence, but Sphinx never feels derivative. It’s escapism at its finest, and it is proof that Ava Trepeck’s talent refuses to settle into complacency; there’s a palpable sense she’s pushing sound design into transcendently imaginative terrain with each of her new releases, and this is no exception.

Sphinx is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast