Renowned as a “goth crooner” by the New York Times and featured in a Game of Thrones trailer, Chelsea Wolfe is one of the most fascinating voices (and personalities) in metal. As she releases a new album, the stunning She Reaches Out To She, which has hints of PJ Harvey, the singer talks to us about her love for Maison Margiela’s Tabi boots and Björk.
Ten years ago, Chelsea Wolfe’s mesmerizing song Feral Love was used in the trailer for the fourth season of the cult series Game of Thrones. Many people fell in love with the universe of the 40-year-old American singer-songwriter.
Referred to as a “goth crooner” by the New York Times, Chelsea Wolfe was not unknown to fans of occult music: folk, electronic, metal, neofolk, and drone-metal-art-folk. However, her name remained a well-kept secret among insiders. After releasing numerous albums and EPs, the gothic priestess has just unveiled her most accessible record yet (somewhere between PJ Harvey, Tricky, Portishead, the Twin Peaks soundtrack, and Nine Inch Nails) at the beginning of February: She Reaches Out To She. An album with trip-hop accents “telling the story of breaking free from situations and patterns that limit our freedom” which could earn her new devoted fans. On this occasion, the fascinating artist talks about her love for Maison Margiela’s Tabi boots, Björk, and her eventful life.
Interview with singer Chelsea Wolfe, who is releasing the album She Reaches Out To She.
Numéro: What does the title of your album, She Reaches Out To She, mean?
Chelsea Wolfe: It’s about the me of the past speaking to the present me and the future me. These different “me” support each other and share their wisdom. It’s also about reaching out to your ancestral lineage and healing ancestral wounds. The lyrics of the album are invitations to start loving yourself more and, in doing so, reclaim your power, find more freedom in your life, and step into your authentic self. The lyrics speak of the pain and joy of rebirth.
In what state of mind were you when writing your new songs?
This album really exists in the liminal, in an intermediate state. It’s like being on the border between the old and the new. There’s no going back, but you’re not yet ready to move forward… You just find calm for once in your life. This album is about the potential that exists in this empty, intermediate space. My state of mind was similar to being inside a chrysalis, in the messy, fluid transition period between caterpillar and butterfly. Honestly, I’m still there… transforming.
The sound of this album is very different from your previous records…
Yes, it’s experimental, sensual, mystical, cyclical electronic music. It’s the culmination of sounds I’ve worked with over the years. Once in the studio with producer Dave Sitek (from the band TV on the Radio), the songs evolved into a more electronic sound due to the nature of his studio with many analog and modular synthesizers. I was really excited by how the songs’ sound transformed in this way because it felt like a literal representation of the album’s themes of transformation and rebirth. And Shawn Everett’s mixing (who has worked with Slowdive, SZA, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) brought it all to life. He added a new spark to the songs that we needed.
What influenced this album?
I started writing the album in 2020, then in early 2021, I became sober (I quit drinking), which naturally began to change my life in many ways and somehow gave me a sense of new possibilities. I had been living in a certain way for a long time, and even though it was a comfort zone because it was what I knew, I began to see with new clarity that I wasn’t doing very well. I was overworked, exhausted, and spending too much of my energy. While I was writing these new songs, they demanded to be lived. The more I wrote about breaking free from unhealthy habits, the more I realized that I really needed to do so, and I started learning to break free from my addictions that were draining all my strength.
How has becoming sober changed your life and your creative process?
Removing the alcohol fog from my life created so much space for new creativity, new magic, new openness. It’s not always easy. In fact, it’s hard because you have to face life’s shadows and sorrows without anything numbing you. But I had been so numb for so long that it’s interesting and exciting to face life today being fully present.
Which artists have influenced you the most?
There are many! Townes Van Zandt, Haruki Murakami, Sylvia Plath, Yohji Yamamoto, Ann Demeulemeester, Sarah Faith Gottesdiener, Pam Grossman, Marjorie Cameron, Ursula K. Le Guin, Alice Hoffman, Yoshitaka Amano, and Mamoru Oshii. And as I was writing my new album in my late thirties, I felt inspired by the music I loved in my twenties, at the end of my adolescence, like Massive Attack, Tricky, PJ Harvey, Björk, Nine Inch Nails, and Placebo.
Your song “Everything Turns Blue” is about healing after a breakup. How did it come about?
One of my loved ones left a 30-year relationship after finally realizing how toxic it was for them. I wrote this song about their journey to find themselves, alone, after 30 years with another person who wasn’t very good to them. But they had tried to convince themselves otherwise. Once that album was finished, something clicked in me, and I also felt the need to leave a toxic (business) relationship. Because I had written these songs that showed me the way, I had the courage to do it.
Your track “Place in the Sun” is very emotional. What is it about?
It’s about finding your “home” in your body after being disconnected for a long time. It’s about finding security in your body in a world that thrives on your insecurity. I talk about simple acts like breathing, singing, and rediscovering the joy in these simple things.
One of your albums is titled “Pain is Beauty.” How cathartic is art for you?
Facing shadows and harsh realities, then finding a way to poetically understand those things and put them into song has always been cathartic for me. Sometimes just asking the right questions helps me more than having all the answers. And my songs ask a lot of questions.
We heard one of your songs in a Game of Thrones trailer… What are your tastes in movies and TV shows?
Having that connection with Game of Thrones is wonderful. I really love everything actress and director Brit Marling does. With director and writer Zal Batmanglij, they have created worlds as beautiful as that of the series The OA, bringing….
