Chelsea Wolfe and the new album "The Dark": "I needed to live through hard times to stop neglecting myself"

Chelsea Wolfe returns to the more essential sound of her catalog with “The Dark“, her ninth studio album due out August 21 via Loma Vista, a record born out of a period of deep personal and artistic transformation. In an interview with NME, the Californian singer-songwriter says she wanted to reconnect with the darkest, most gothic core of her music, after the electronic experiments of her previous album “She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She“.
The idea for the new album took shape through her collaboration with producer Jennifer Decilveo. “We wrote together in a really natural, fast way,” Wolfe explains, recalling how a simple question ended up steering the whole project: “When Jen asked me directly, 'What do you want this record to be?', everything became clearer. We're going back to instruments, starting songs with acoustic guitar or piano and voice, and building from there.”

Sonically, “The Dark” once again puts guitars front and center, without giving up its more intensely rock moments. “I really felt the need for this album to be full of guitars. I don't think of it as an acoustic record, because it also has some seriously rock moments,” says the Sacramento-based musician. The record's central theme is the boundary between life and death, between loss and rebirth. “There's this feeling of crossing the veil that separates life from death, of searching once again for something that's been lost,” Wolfe says, explaining how this journey can represent an actual death just as much as an inner transformation or the end of a relationship. Films like “What Dreams May Come” and “The Others” helped shape the album's suspended, otherworldly atmosphere.
The Californian artist also reveals that the record grew out of a deeply personal realization. “I realized how much I was abandoning myself,” she says, explaining that she'd spent years putting other people's needs ahead of her own. “I understood I had to face difficult moments and conversations in order to stop neglecting myself.” That process also meant distancing herself from people she loved and from aspects of her identity that no longer felt authentic.

The process was a natural evolution from her previous album, written right after she quit drinking. Where that record was driven by the excitement of newfound clarity, Wolfe now describes a more complicated phase: “This album is about the deeper work, the harder part of the journey. I realized I had to keep working on myself, even if it meant moving away from people and situations I loved.” “The Dark” also carries a reflection on the passage of time. “I'm literally starting the second half of my life, and I'm trying to embrace it, to embrace the person I am today,” explains the singer behind “Abyss“.
Among the album's guests is once again Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens Of The Stone Age, who had already appeared on “16 Psyche”. “It was the perfect spot to once again give Troy the space to do what he does best, and he came up with a fantastic solo,” Wolfe says of the track “Swallower”.

The album's closing message is anything but pessimistic. “I believe the best things are born out of darkness, out of rest, dreams and imagination. Darkness creates the space for light to arrive,” she says. “This record is a love letter to the dark, gothic side of my music, but also to darkness's ability to give rise to something beautiful.”
Chelsea Wolfe will perform the new songs live on an extensive international tour. Here are all the dates.

August 18 – London, United Kingdom – The Dome
August 20 – Bristol, United Kingdom – ArcTanGent Festival
September 16 – San Francisco, California – Curran Theatre
September 18 – Seattle, Washington – The Moore Theatre
September 19 – Salem, Oregon – Elsinore Theatre
September 20 – Portland, Oregon – Roseland Theater
September 22 – Salt Lake City, Utah – The Union Event Center
September 24 – Denver, Colorado – Paramount Theatre
September 25 – Lawrence, Kansas – Liberty Hall
September 26 – St. Paul, Minnesota – The Fitzgerald Theater
September 28 – Chicago, Illinois – The Riviera Theatre
September 29 – Columbus, Ohio – The Bluestone
September 30 – Detroit, Michigan – Masonic Jack White Theatre
October 5 – Boston, Massachusetts – Boch Center Shubert Theatre
October 6 – New York, New York – The Town Hall
October 8 – Munhall, Pennsylvania – Carnegie Of Homestead Music Hall
October 9 – Glenside, Pennsylvania – Keswick Theatre
October 10 – Washington, DC – Sixth & I
October 12 – Asheville, North Carolina – The Orange Peel
October 13 – Atlanta, Georgia – Buckhead Theatre
October 14 – Nashville, Tennessee – Marathon Music Works
October 16 – Dallas, Texas – Texas Theatre
October 17 – Austin, Texas – Emo's
October 20 – Tucson, Arizona – Rialto Theatre
October 21 – El Cajon, California – The Magnolia
October 23 – Los Angeles, California – The Orpheum Theatre
November 21 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg
November 23 – Berlin, Germany – Admiralspalast
November 24 – Hamburg, Germany – Große Freiheit 36
November 25 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
November 27 – Oslo, Norway – Betong
November 28 – Stockholm, Sweden – Vasateatern
November 30 – Tallinn, Estonia – Helitehas
December 2 – Vilnius, Lithuania – LOFTAS
December 3 – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja
December 5 – Prague, Czech Republic – ARCHA+
December 6 – Vienna, Austria – Budocenter
December 7 – Budapest, Hungary – Akvárium Klub
December 9 – Mannheim, Germany – Capitol
December 11 – Fribourg, Switzerland – Fri-Son
December 12 – Milan – Live Club
December 13 – Munich, Germany – Isarphilharmonie
December 15 – Antwerp, Belgium – Trix
December 16 – Paris, France – Casino de Paris
December 19 – Athens, Greece – FLOYD

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