CHELSEA WOLFE — She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (review)

CHELSEA WOLFE — She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She album cover

Album · 2024 · Non-Metal

4/5 · 2024-02-17
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The queen of modern freaky downer chick music is back after taking time off since 2019’s “Birth Of Violence” to get sober as well as to make an unlikely collaborative release with the grindcore band Converge not to mention another buddy project with Tyler Bates for the “X” film score. Of all these game changes it was certainly the sobriety issue that has haunted California native CHELSEA WOLFE since her childhood. Something had to give and she chose the alcohol. Good call. Take it from me. Hangovers suck.

WOLFE returns with a collection of 10 interesting tracks that deviate significantly from her previous output. While she’s delved into everything from alternative rock, ethereal wave, neofolk, psychedelic rock and industrial rock to even sludge metal, a few elements have been fairly consistent in her sound. CHELSEA has always been and remains a Goth girl and the whole Gothic rock scene of the 80s ranging from Depeche Mode to The Cure still finds a major role in her musical journey.

New to her musical palette is trip hop, the kind of hypo-trance dance music that Portishead and Tricky were dishing out in the 90s. On SHE REACHES OUT, WOLFE has infused a number of influences into her eclectic witch’s brew this round. In addition to the post-industrial and trip hop elements that provide the meaty sinew of the album’s run, the album has moments that will bring all kinds of artists like Bjork, Massive Attack Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and even TV On The Radio, the latter making the most sense of all due to TV On The Radio’s very own guitarist Dave Sitek sitting in the producer’s chair this time around.

SHE REACHES OUT TO SHE REACHES OUT TO SHE is a rather dark album with ominous electronic tones accompanied by industrial beats. WOLFE’s contemplative vocal style doesn’t struggle to be heard but merely surrenders to the musical flow leaving certain tracks finding her muted and overwhelmed while on other slower ballads such as “Place In The Sun” regaining the fortitude to take the bull by the horn and lead the orchestrated musical procession. The cavernous nature of the production is one of the greatest achievements as it allows the musical delivery to reveal WOLFE’s vulnerability and thus connection to a world oft perceived as too large and too overwhelming to navigate.

While the downer vibe is persistent from the first second to the closing of “Dusk,” the tracks are actually quite varied within that context allowing a fascinating album to feel cohesively unique and also finding a new footing for WOLFE as she takes on the world without the crutches of alcohol. The album has been declared one of WOLFE’s most ambitious and carefully crafted and that would be no exaggeration. This is one of those album’s where lyrical poetic proses intersects with meticulously crafted melodies augmented by the layering effect of industrial electronica and then set to various beats, the lion’s share finding their way in the trip hop realm but the beauty of the album is that tracks often deviate from their initiating style and close with a totally new stylistic approach.

In other words, the album sounds fresh and organically composed as the creativity was obviously firing on all pistons. The album effortlessly connects the industrial rock past with the modern world of mixing, production and electronic wizardry. WOLFE is certainly up to the task as her singing style is as strong as ever made all the more invigorating by the excellent musical accompaniments. The album really does breeze by way too fast as there are really no duds on board and the album shines in trip hop splendor much like the perfection of the Portishead albums some 25 years ago. This is a proud moment for CHELSEA WOLFE where she has turned the corner and found her creative mojo has only become stronger without the detrimental dependency of abusive substances.