Orshina, the Tel Aviv based electronic artist, deals with grief through repetition, space and the slow build up of sound on Requiem for “NOVA”. Released on 7th October 2026 it’s an album dedicated to their sister and a number of close friends. The six tracks on the album provide that dedication with space to breathe, moving between bright guitar, immersive electronics and moments of melancholy.
Graveyard Blues is the seven minute opener and it takes its time. There’s a very clear guitar line cutting through the dense instrumental mix and a very repetitive rhythm which gradually becomes quite hypnotic. There’s something quite compelling about that relentlessness, each recurrence drawing you in more and more. Bread & Circus begins with some very light ambient textures before developing into colder electronic rhythms beneath a very thick atmosphere. The change in temperature is important. After the brightness of the guitar it all feels much more withdrawn, the production really gathering in on itself as it progresses.
A little hope comes with “Hell In Paradise” actually. The cosmic scale is brought down to earth with soft airy tones and gentle synth phrases. It builds very gradually into a warm, hypnotic passage which makes the more reflective side of the album very accessible. “Rest In Music” is my favourite track. There’s a very thick, considered atmosphere to it with a certain sway to it, a slight lurch in the rhythm. The voices coming in after the halfway point really add to that sense of distance, providing a human element without in any way compromising the vastness of the surrounding space.
At 7:17 “Dressed up for the Devil” is all building up to the final stretch, the sound is so enveloping you can actually hear it gathering momentum and the ending of the track is quite vivid as a result. “Holocausts and Slavery” then pulls it all into the dark. There’s a very piercing melancholy throughout the arrangement with a cold edge of high notes above a very energetic, driving base.
Orshina finishes with the movement still in the music. That decision gives the album such a powerful finality in terms of tension, grief carried on a rhythm which is strong enough to keep the whole thing moving.
*This review was made possible by MusoSoup
