Whilst it may have been a little while since Chelsea Wolfe’s last solo album, 2019’s Americana/Folk inspired Birth Of Violence, things have been far from quiet. 2021 saw Wolfe working on the critically acclaimed collaboration Bloodmoon: I with metallic hardcore legends Converge, 2022 saw her working alongside composer Tyler Bates for the soundtrack to underground slasher film X. New solo material has been a long time coming, now re-emerging with new solo album She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, shedding the folk side of Birth Of Violence and re-upping on the experimental and gothic side she’s known for; a project that is both introspective and extrospective, summarised by Wolfe as “the past self reaching out to the present self reaching out to the future self to summon change, growth, and guidance”.
Opening track ‘Whispers In The Echo Chamber’ feels very traditionally Wolfe. Dark, brooding instrumentals, distorted chugging chord progressions from guitars and lurching bass synths, impactful and deliberate percussion with Chelsea’s excellent soft, yet powerful vocal performance sitting atop it all. ‘House Of Self Undoing’ switches gears quickly and sinks its hooks in almost as fast. Focussed around a consistent post-punk feeling drum beat, dystopian synths paired with a driving bass line and subtle guitar melodies give the feeling that this track belongs on the soundtrack to an espionage thriller.
What follows is where things start to get really interesting, ‘Everything Turns Blue’ brings the pace back down to a dreamy nod, tonnes of elaborate layering and details buried in and around the soundscape. 70’s cyberpunk feeling synth hooks bridge sections between Wolfe’s emotive and hypnotic vocal performance. ‘Tunnel Lights’ is a dramatic shift, lonely jazz chords ring out on a piano as percussive samples and lo-fi beats usher in the vast trip-hop influence found throughout the album. Juxtaposing itself with noisy and abrasive electronics in the chorus, alongside another passionate and enrapturing performance from Wolfe. ‘Tunnel Lights’ slips back and forth between the two making for one of the best tracks on the album.
These shifts make for a regular occurrence across the album, songs like ‘The Liminal’ and ‘Salt’ leaning hard into the trip-hop influence with sample manipulation and dreamy beats to nod along to, ‘Salt’ in particular having noticeable Massive Attack energy to its chorus. Others like ‘Eyes Like Nightshade’ and ‘Unseen World’ with more intense synth explorations, more pervasive driving percussion and basslines, embracing the experimental and soft-industrial side of Chelsea Wolfe more overtly.
She Reaches Out To… started off life in typical Wolfe fashion, working with long time collaborators multi-instrumentalist Ben Chisholm, drummer Jess Gowrie and guitarist Bryan Tulao to put together the initial compositions over the course of several years. Once completed Wolfe worked with TV On The Radio co-founder and producer Dave Sitek to break apart these compositions, sampling and re-imagining them from a different perspective. It worked flawlessly, simultaneously invoking elements of Chelsea Wolfe fans have come to love and expect, whilst pushing the boat out and pulling together her freshest and most engaging material to date.
The final products were handed off to mix engineer Shawn Everett (Slowdive, SZA, Alvvays, The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), putting their indie/pop oriented spin on the mix detail of the songs allowing for an interesting new edge to Wolfe’s voice, whilst Mastering engineer Heba Kadry has worked on several of Wolfe’s albums in the past, ensuring that familiar experimental and goth leaning elements don’t stray too far away. Both have done a phenomenal job, the mix is peppered with unheard layers of detail across the sonic architecture, yet none of this detracts from the vocals whatsoever, only enhancing the performances and atmospheres conjured by Chelsea Wolfe’s somber poetry.
“Place In The Sun” gives off an intimate singer/songwriter feel, just piano and vocals but with reverb tails ringing out for eternity. Simple low-key beats worm their way in but don’t detract from the piano and vocals at the centre, glitchy elements of synthesis and percussion, strings melodies and more make appearances throughout, peppering the soundscape with different textures. Its hopeful, yet somber; acoustic, yet electronic and makes for a beautiful track to usher in the end of the album.
Initially released as the lead single, “Dusk” finds itself as the closing track on the album and what a note to end on. The highly infectious, simple lead melody will stick with you for days, bouncing between Chelsea’s simultaneously soft spoken, ASMR-esque yet impassioned and powerful delivery compliment each other so well. The dreamy nod persists until the second half; a more deliberate, fuzzy and psychedelic guitar melody takes centre stage building emotive energy around the more pronounced instrumental as the final climax rings out. If left to repeat, “Dusk” very naturally and comfortably leads straight back into “Whispers In The Echo Chamber”, as if designed cyclically and thought of as a continuous loop.
Chelsea Wolfe continues to impress as one of the most interesting alternative artists, refusing to rest on her laurels and continuing to experiment with her sound and style. She Reaches Out To… is a remarkable success in both an artistic sense and as an album in itself. Engaging for both new fans and old, broadening her appeal to other audiences and putting together some of the best work of her career by taking a different perspective to her work. Its rife with hidden detail and begging for repeat listens on high-quality speakers or headphones and by the time ‘Dusk’ rings out you’ll find yourself starting the cycle again without any complaints.