The ever-evolving sonic palette of renowned recording artist Chelsea Wolfe is not a simple one to unpack. Across six studio albums and a number of collaborations, the California native has cast her velvet musical net onto and across multiple genres. In bleak midwinter 2024, on February 9th, album number seven has taken shape in the form of the oddly titled She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She. After parting ways with Sargent House Records, this is Wolfe’s first album with Loma Vista Recordings. Coming five years on from the more sedate but powerful 2019 album Birth of Violence, fans eagerly await whatever new direction this queen of darkness and dreams has in store for them.
In her emotionally honest way, Wolfe takes the listener on a far more subdued journey vocally on album opener “Whispers In The Echo Chamber,” with its electronic, staccato backbeat. This one doesn’t jump out in the way that past openers, such as “Feral Love” or “Carrion Flowers” did. Instead it simmers and uncoils itself, growing slowly upon the listener. It ends with some of Wolfe’s distorted guitar-laden ferocity worked into the final formula. Wolfe has an amazing ability to drop seemingly clashing parts into the sweet cadence of her calmer songs. These function as splashes of cold water during a warm shower, in the best of ways, and they set us up for “House of Self-Undoing.” Fans of the 2015 Abyss album will revel in her soothing voice flitting over repetitive, almost industrial / looped percussion. Wolfe has once again worked with longtime collaborators Jess Gowrie and Ben Chisholm; familiar faces with whom she has conjured over a decade of musical sorcery.
As the album progresses, it becomes apparent that Wolfe is working inside a far more minimalist palette of sonic choices this time around. “Tunnel Lights” brings to mind the dreamy Trip Hop of Massive Attack. The song lilts, and there are moments where the emotional depth of Wolfe’s voice takes hold. Just when it seems the whole thing will fade without climax, the final minute crescendos, but ardent fans might be hard-pressed to find the sort of payoff we have come to expect in songs like “Be All Things” or “They’ll Clap When You’re Gone.” If the listener regards this album as more of an Electropop, Trip Hop affair and sees it through this prism, then a sultry builder like “Everything Turns Blue” will seduce the ears as swells of epic keys uplift Wolfe’s vocal lines.
Wolfe has chosen to eschew sweeping guitars this time around, as “The Liminal” and “Salt” see her voice standing more on its own overtop of more trip-hop style beats. So many of Wolfe’s past songs thrum with such power, they are the musical equivalent of being gazed upon by a demigoddess. Too much of the middle of this album fails to quite get to that level, though the last section of “The Liminal” threatens to do so. “Eyes Like Nightshade” has a bit of an intermission feel to it, like the soft whisper of a fading dream upon awakening. “Unseen World” has some haunting keys in it. As one of the most superb recording artists alive today, Wolfe is clearly trying a new approach and thus far refuses to put herself in any creative box. Ultimately, this strengthens her art.
Perhaps the saddest, sweetest ode on the entire album is the penultimate track, “Place in the Sun.” Here lies the unique vibrations of pure heartbreak and release that Chelsea Wolfe is able to conjure up, album after album, year after year. “Dusk” ends this chapter with a throwback feel to earlier works, one fans will welcome like an old friend. While not as immediate an album as some prior works, and not nearly as guitar-driven, nonetheless there are plenty of moments to be smitten by here, with more to come after additional listens. Cryptic Rock gives She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She 4 out of 5 stars.
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