Real, raw beauty wherever she aims her lens.

chelseawolfemusic: Chelsea Wolfe: “Flatlands” I stumbled upon the Los Angeles vocalist and multi-instrumenatlist Chelsea Wolfe’s music a couple of years ago via a cover she did of ”Black Spell of Destruction”, originally found on one-man Norwegian black metal band Burzum’s 1992 self-titled debut. A short time later, I discovered her debut album, 2010’s The Grime and the Glow, a strange, captivating collection of what, at that time, she called “doom folk,” and then 2011’s Apokalypsis, too. As far as I could tell, she existed in her own private scene. From the beginning, Wolfe has updated her website regularly with a variety of promo photos and homemade videos; she’s looked like a different person in each one. In his review of Apokalypsis for this site, David Raposa noted the title “refers to the Greek root of the word ‘apocalypse,’ the root meaning ‘lifting of the veil’” and suggested that the strongest moment on the record occurs when “Chelsea Wolfe comes to sounding less like something else, and more like herself.” Wolfe’s next offering, the nine-song Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs— out October 16 on Sargent House— is her clearest emergence from the veil and shadows that obscured her earlier work. (Listen to the brand new track “Flatlands” above.) As the album’s subtitle promises, it’s stark, but also in tune with her gothic sound; she’s accompanied by viola, violin, piano, analog synths. And her voice still conjures warped mirrors and molten candle wax, even when unaccompanied. I caught up with Wolfe via telephone to discuss the new record, a forthcoming full-band album, D.H. Lawrence, and being an outcast. Read the interview and watch Wolfe perform a haunting live version of Unknown Rooms’ “Spinning Centers” below: Pitchfork: When did you start making music? Chelsea Wolfe: My dad was in a country band while I was growing up and he had a home studio. So when I was around nine, I started writing and recording songs, and I never really stopped. But for some reason it never seemed like an option for me to be a musician. It was a very long time until I took it seriously. Read More