Chelsea Wolfe – ‘Unbound EP’ review
Chelsea Wolfe by Jez Pennington
Chelsea Wolfe is an artist that has never let a single genre define her. The California-born singer-songwriter has experimented with folk, metal, electronic, and everything in between. Her recent trilogy of records highlights this freedom, with lyrical themes of transformation and reinventing the same songs in different styles across releases. Unbound, the final chapter, is a stripped-back, acoustic EP that displays Wolfe’s elegant lyricism and her ethereal voice.
The basis of this self-described ‘triptych’ was “She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She”, fusing electronic sounds with rock and a gothic atheistic into what we described as “an album that needs to be witnessed and experienced.” It was followed by Undone, an EP of remixes by a range of different artists. By comparison, Unbound seems rather tame, only made up of Wolfe’s voice alongside a guitar and piano. However, this shedding of the soundscape gives listeners room to contemplate on the words and the emotion behind them in a way that can seem more like poetry than music at times.
The EP opens with ‘Whispers In The Echo Chamber’. The song comes across as Wolfe’s eulogy to a previous version of herself as a new one is formed. It exemplifies how multiple takes on the same song can evoke different feelings, with the instrumentation on this version being far less foreboding. the guitar uplifts the song while the piano reinforces the melody. On “she reaches out”…, the track seems more like a lament of someone left behind but now it feels like a celebration of who that person has become.
‘Dusk’ is a brilliant showcase of Wolfe’s vocal range. While mostly filled with a lot of crisp high notes, it can also be remarkably robust when used lower (which is emphasised by briefly layering vocals in the song’s second half). The track gives of the vibes of both a love song and a hymn, fused. The mentions of angels, sin, and baptism alongside the high vocals evoke memories of church choirs. While the accompanying piano feels inspired by jazz and soul music, giving everything a more sensual, romantic undercurrent. It perhaps suggests how deep a person’s devotion can go when they love someone.
Wolfe’s fascination with the ambiguous and transitory nature of things is on full display in ‘The Liminal’. The lyrics refer to transitory nature of things, how nothing is permanent. The song’s construction itself feels liminal. A minimal guitar part accompanies the vocals, which are accented by an echoing effect. It feels like a portion of a song, that isn’t fully formed, much like how Wolfe sings that “all you left behind was an exoskeleton”.
Whilst not the final track on the EP, ‘Place In The Sun’ is the final song written by Wolfe in the whole trilogy and it feels like the perfect closing piece. Lyrics celebrating safety and freedom to fly are sung by Wolfe’s voice, strong in conviction but with a vibrato hinting at the uncertainty that comes with flying into unknown territory. This is accompanied by big, rich piano sounds giving off the impression that this song would fit right in behind the closing credits of a movie.
The closing song is a cover of ‘Cellar Door’ from Spiritbox. The Canadian metal group’s song has been altered into this winding, melodic journey. The journey of transformation that defined this trilogy into a closed loop, bringing to mind the ouroboros featured on the cover art of “she reaches out”. The frantic guitar plucking in the song gives off the sense that this cyclical nature isn’t deliberate but that it is something one just falls in to. Wolfe’s voice takes on this haunting edge, adding to the feeling of having no control, and that there is more beyond the end of the record.
Unbound is a remarkable effort that showcases Chelsea Wolfe’s prowess as a singer and an artist. The original songs that were remade for this record are so densely layered and powerful that acoustic versions could have come off as a bit empty but that’s far from what happened. These are brilliant songs in their own right, divorced from any previous arrangements. The range and variety within Wolfe’s voice stops the record from feeling stale while the instrumentation provides a light touch that serves to complete the songs without detracting from the well-crafted vocals and lyrics.
Ubound from Chelsea Wolfe is out 15 November via Loma Vista Recordings and available on all good streaming platforms.
