Haunting, prophetic, unusual and otherworldly, Chelsea Wolfe is the experimental Californian artist who believes darkness comes after light.
Intense and forlorn, the music this long-haired, tattooed temptress creates tells of past turmoil and dark days. Weaving intoxicating tapestries of sound with hymnal choruses and progressive rhythms, Chelsea Wolfe’s vocals mystically rise like vapour. Composing sensations which feel intangible and indistinguishable, this all-American girl is as unusual in appearance as she is in sound.
Signed to Pendu Sound Recordings, Wolfe released her debut album entitled The Grime & The Glow last year and has subsequently crept onto the music industry’s peripheries. Recording tracks on a Tascam 8-track, Chelsea continuously works with different people, capturing each musical arrangement she composes in a different space, so as to allow the qualities of her music to resonate and diversify. More interested in exploring her artistic sensibilities than pushing her work through the publicity and press mill, the avenues through which Chelsea reveals herself veer towards art and fashion; she adores designer Iris van Herpen.
Describing her sound as being “spiritual realm funeral songs with a hint of Estonian industrial”, this reclusive songstress coined her techniques from an early age. Creeping into her father’s home-music studio to experiment with his equipment, Chelsea taught herself how to make the music she loves so deeply from the tender age of nine.
Referencing the work of Nick Cave, Vladimir Vysotsky and Selda Bagcan, Ayn Rand and Ingmar Bergman as the inspirations behind her very personal songs, Miss Wolfe is on a journey of self-discovery, that much is apparent. Crafting witch-like spells in sonic form, Chelsea is not in it to make a quick buck or get a boyfriend. Exploring deeper territories, her wistful noise is designed to raise hairs and nothing else. Lean in a little closer and listen, now who’s afraid of the big bad Wolfe?
Film:
Song 1 – Sally LaPointe jacket, Alexander McQueen fur, Gemma Kahng skirt, Gris Gris boots
Song 2 – Fur AF Vandevorst, Leather arms and neck piece Logan Neitzel, skirt Gemma Kahng, Gris Gris boots
song 3 – Skirt Iris van Herpen, Spike cuff Mordekai by Ken Borochov, top with rope harness by Stylist
Photo – Sally LaPointe jacket, Alexander McQueen fur, Gemma Kahng skirt, Horse hoove boots Gris Gris, necklace made of baboon bones and leather by Stylist
