Chelsea Wolfe - "She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She"
For witches who use the darkness like a weighted blanket
Chelsea Wolfe is an artist who first caught my attention about five years ago. She is probably best defined as “Art Metal” – which isn’t a thing, but invokes the right ideas and mindset for approaching her music. Wolfe doesn’t play by the same rules as everybody else. She meshes light and dark into a rainbow of grays; blends airy atmosphere with crushing weight. The sound that results is something like a profession of love for darkness, itself. It’s Gothic all the way to the core; truly, Wolfe’s music is what would result if one of the Hex Girls went solo.
She Reaches Out is as experimental as all of Wolfe’s previous releases. There are still strong elements of Doom Metal and Gothic and Folk Rock, all underscored by witchy vibes and haunting vocals. It is devoid of much of the sludgy elements found in 2017’s Hiss Spun, but it’s also generally weightier than the Witch Folk of 2019’s Birth of Violence.
And “weightier” is really the best word for it. There’s not a single notable upbeat moment on the album. Every track is filled with intense guitar, bass, synth, and drum in varying layers under Wolfe’s vocals, and it’s all piled in. It has heft, but it doesn’t really come at you the way that “heavy metal” does; it’s more the weight of anxiety or dread, in true Doom fashion, rather than anything active.
I mean, “Eyes Like Nightshade” has a fairly high bpm, but the vocal melody is still slow and deliberate. And this leads me to the album’s most glaring issue: despite the compositional and melodic variance, Wolfe really only has one mode throughout the album. And you might counter this point with the fact that she’s Chelsea Wolfe and really we kind of expect that before hitting play – but Wolfe has multiple modes. She knows how to switch it up; she just doesn’t frequently change styles on an album. And I think She Reaches Out might be a bit stronger, overall, if her vocal style changed a bit on a few songs.
Thematically, the album is tied together by the concept of change, with “The Liminal” serving as a lynchpin of sorts. Wolfe started writing – or, attempting to write – this album in 2020, but nothing really stuck until after she gave up alcohol in 2021. Her newfound sobriety was just the change she needed, as she discusses in this interview with Kerrang!. And her attitude toward this personal evolution is apparent right from the start of the album, with opener “Whispers in the Echo Chamber” discussing the process of cutting ties with oneself:
“Bathing in the blood of who I used to be Offering up all my imperfect offerings Become my own fantasy Twist the old self into poetry Undone Cut the cords Cut ties To yours”
The aforementioned “The Liminal” takes it further, likening oneself to a liminal space, then finishing with the sentiment: “I’m the future, I’m the former / I nurtured me, I came back stronger”.
Overall, the album is very good. The songs here are great low-key (but intense) vibes and would be perfect for blasting on stormy days this summer.
Rating: Green