ALBUM REVIEW: She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She – Chelsea Wolfe

Do not rub your eyes – as the quote from The Simpsons goes, you really are seeing double here; that IS the actual title of CHELSEA WOLFE‘s seventh solo studio release (eighth if you count her Unknown Rooms: A Collection Of Acoustic Songs from 2012). The Californian singer-songwriter has been releasing music since the turn of the 2010s, but it wouldn’t be unfair to say that it was 2017’s exceptional Hiss Spun record that really began to turn the heads of the alternative community to her dark melting pot of styles and genres. Now, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She comes with high anticipation on Friday February 9th via Wolfe‘s new home of Loma Vista Recordings.

Although not a concept album as such, She Reaches Out To She… is centred around the theme of self-growth – an invitation, as Wolfe says, to “step into your authenticity“. The notion that she’s been anything but authentic over her career is one that is wholly untrue, yet here the ethos of staying true to herself has never been stronger. Littered with moments that hark back to other points across her discography, Wolfe has crafted a record that manages to acknowledge where she’s been, celebrate where she is and point to where she’s going next all at the same time.

Opening track Whispers In The Echo Chamber isn’t any less unsettling than when it was first released in October last year, an underlying beat providing a strong foundation to Wolfe‘s clipped and icy vocals. However, when she reduces her voice to little more than a whisper, lines such as “This world was not designed for us” swirling around synths and the hanging drone of guitars (a nice callback to her debut, 2010’s The Grime And The Glow), the song reaches its zenith. House Of Self-Undoing excels in two main areas: its pacey industrial-esque style and the poppier structure that makes it both formidable and easy on the ear in equal measure.

Tunnel Lights is more lo-fi and reserved than some of what’s come before, but it shines thanks to Wolfe‘s voice taking on a more brittle complexion, one that sounds like she will burst into tears at any given moment. At this point, the present and future of this extraordinary artist begin to unfold – she’s an entity all unto herself, with a superb understanding of how to make experimental pieces work on multiple levels and she’s intent on making even more elaborate songs as she goes; how else could something as jarring as Eyes Like Nightshade sit next to the ethereal poise of Salt and work so wonderfully?

This is an album that would turn the heads of those who love NINE INCH NAILS just as much as people who adore BILLIE EILISH, even if staunch followers of CHELSEA WOLFE over the past few years would have expected nothing less. She Reaches Out To She… is the absolute sweet spot between chilling and beautiful, nearly three-quarters of an hour of sumptuous, spellbinding music that will bowl you over again and again for the rest of time, let alone this year.

Rating: 9/10

She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She is set for release on February 9th via Loma Vista Recordings.

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