Chelsea Wolfe has been reborn, and her new album, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, is a testament to her unyielding and magical force. Industrial gothic electronics mix with her signature soft and eloquent voice, painting her spiritual journey of authenticity and growth. Each song is a piece of the healing process, as she cuts ties with who she once was and finally sets herself free.
The artist’s graceful yet expansive voice is well known, and she continues to amass a dedicated fanbase with millions of streams on her hit songs. Beginning back in 2010 with the melodic lo-fi album, The Grime and The Glow, Wolfe has since continuously experimented with her sound. From the soft tunes of indie folk in her 2012 hit Flatlands, to developing her more alternative gothic and metal rock voice with the 2017 album Hiss Spun, Wolfe is no stranger to genre blending. Yet her newest album, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, may be her most experimental and raw work yet. Magic, spirituality, gothic rock, and even Wolfe’s own tarot deck are all included in this exciting release.
After years of numbing herself and living a life half-present, Wolfe took a step back after the end of touring for her last record to summon personal change and growth. Her new album was born from the process of healing, stepping into a newfound authenticity from the challenging of her past self. The first song, Whispers in the Echo Chamber is an electrifying wake up call, blending heavy guitars with a dark and insistent whisper with lyrics like “Bathing in the blood of who I used to be.” “Everything turns blue” is minimal yet insistent, expanding the metal rock sound to a haunting drum as she asks the question, “What do I have to do to heal you out of me?” The final and tenth track, Dusk, has amassed over one million streams on Spotify and closes out the album with a new, sultry and retro finish. This song signals the ending of an era, as a dusk forms before a new dawn.
She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She is a conversation between Wolfe’s past, present, and future selves, summoning a unique guidance and spirituality that is emanated through each song. Wolfe is bathing in the light of her newfound empowerment, and her album is a whispered invitation to transform.
I personally really connect with your new album, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, it's very raw and beautiful. I wanted to start out by asking about the quote where you said, “This album demanded to be lived.” It's a pretty powerful statement - how would you say that represents the creation of these tracks? Where did you find that starting point?
I found that immediately after writing a song for this album, whether it was about leaving behind a toxic relationship or cutting the cord from a toxic habit, I’d have a personal revelation that the reason I wrote about the topic was because it was something that I needed to act on in my own life, not just sing about. And the songs themselves became guides for me. Looking back, I can sense that my future self was inciting these songs of change and transformation so that I’d get the message. I was feeling very stuck in my life in many ways when beginning the writing of She Reaches Out, so I think I subconsciously started writing about what it would feel like to be making changes in my life and not feel so stuck.
There are a lot of personal messages throughout the tracks that are very central to the overall album concept, how would you describe the specific statement that this album makes? Who would you say that message is directed to?
It’s a message from my future self to my present self, lighting the path forward. And it’s a message to anyone who has those instinctive, whispering voices within letting them know it’s time to transform, it’s time to let go of the old form, step into the void, and become something new. This album conveys that that’s not an easy process, but it’s a powerful, worthwhile one.
The album title is a bit of a tongue twister almost, however the repetitive way it's written is definitely very purposeful. Can you explain the idea behind it?
Yes, I loved that it could be written in an infinite loop - the past, present, and future reaching out to each other. Ancestors and future generations connected. The way we share with one another in this life.
While the songs tell your personal story, I read that the writing process of this album was very collaborative and included a lot of different musical influences. How did it come to be this unifying effort, and how is that shown throughout the album?
It was collaborative, yes, and also challenging to have so many different ideas and ways of approaching music in one studio for one album. My bandmates and I started writing these songs from afar during the beginning of the pandemic, and Ben and I would collage all the ideas into demos. Then we got into the studio finally with producer Dave Sitek who wanted to take the songs in a new, more electronic direction which I was excited about, but it was also difficult for some in the group who wanted to hold on to the way the demos were. It’s always a culling process when you’ve sat with demos for so long, and yea, it’s not always easy. But I was mentally in a place where I was ready for change and transformation, so I welcomed it.
The album also includes spiritual undertones that are reflected through the songs, and on top of this, the album was released in correspondence to the lunar cycle with the creation of your own oracle deck to go along with it. What inspired this and how did this all become part of the album concept? For example, I was wondering did you choose February 9th specifically for the album's release?
My label told me to pick a date in February, and album releases are on Fridays, so I looked up the lunar calendar with a sort of inner knowing that there’d be a new moon on a Friday that February, and sure enough February 9th was an Aquarius new moon, full of auspicious energy and potentiality. I learned to follow the cycles of the moon - to live by them, really - via Sarah Faith Gottesdiener’s The Moon Book. It’s an intentional way of living and my team at my label was really into applying that to the album release cycle. It was a lovely way to roll out an album with a touch of magic.
Another thing I noticed about the album concept was the prevalence of the colour blue, which is the colour of the album cover and also the main theme in the song, Everything Turns Blue. What does blue mean to you in the overall meaning of the album? Would you say that it reflects a certain mood or emotion?
All the blue surfaced quite naturally. Looking back at my albums, I can sense how certain ones were tied to certain elements, i.e. Pain is Beauty feels very fire energy, and Birth of Violence feels like earth energy. She Reaches Out has water energy. An energy of transformation, and washing away the old. And tears as well. There’s a sadness in letting go of what is known, even if you know it’s time to move on. The song Dusk dictated things a bit as well. That was the first single and I suggested we use the colours of dusk, that pale blue almost purple, so that colour theme became a touchstone. Christopher Leckie who art directed the album artwork chose the blue we went with, and was so wonderful to work with.
Whispers in The Echo Chamber is the first song on the album, and it harnesses that more industrial and almost eerie sound that definitely sets the tone for the rest of the tracks. What was the process of choosing this mood to open up the album?
Whispers in The Echo Chamber is about those insistent voices urging you to wake up and rise up from the fog you’ve been under, to take charge in your life. I wanted the vocal flutters that open the album to feel insistent as well, and for the dynamics of the song to reflect the ups and downs of that journey of cutting the cords from toxicity, and stepping into your authenticity. It’s a messy, wild path.
You mentioned that this album embodies the revelation of “actually living instead of just getting by.” How has this mantra manifested into your everyday life?
It’s stopping to really be present with moments of joy, no matter how fleeting, and it’s also having difficult conversations with someone when needed. It’s getting real and not just people-pleasing or trying to be a good girl as the life goal. Now, authenticity, alignment, realness, seeking joy and magic - these are the goals.
The album is a journey of personal transformation, so I was wondering how the final song, Dusk, signifies a conclusion to this story? What does this possible ending look like for you in your life?
It’s a story of dedication and love. It can be applied to a friendship, a family relationship, a love relationship, or it can be applied to the self. I will go through the fire for you, future self. I will take the hard steps to get to you, to find a more empowered you.
What do you see for the future of yourself and your music?
I’m in the liminal space between old and new right now. I have so many ideas I’m not ready to share yet. I want to sing in amazing spaces. I want to sing with other people. I feel so passionate about so many things that I want to do and try and experience with music.
