Chelsea Wolfe has been melding the gothic with the folk and electronic metal for years now, and if that sounds like a hard combo to pull off to you, well then you don’t know Chelsea Wolfe. On her new album Hiss Spun, which is shaping up to be the one of the best of her entire, extensive discography, Wolfe balances dark and light elements with the precision of a surgeon.
Today she shared another single off the forthcoming album, and “Offering” is a great example of her ability to fuse disparate elements, as Wolfe’s whisper-hissed, sometimes Lana-pop voice floats over gauzy feedback and surging, militant percussion. Wolfe has released several other songs prior to “Offering” to introduce her latest album, including the doomy lead single “16 Psyche” and the airy, creepy “Vex.”
Hiss Spun is coming this September, and continues in the same exploratory theme that much of her work has focused on. Partially inspired by Henry Miller, Wolfe cites the tumultuous state of the world around her as a major influence on the record. ““I wanted to write some sort of escapist music; songs that were just about being in your body, and getting free,” Wolfe she said of the album. “You’re just bombarded with constant bad news, people getting fucked over and killed for sh*tty reasons or for no reason at all, and it seems like the world has been in tears for months, and then you remember it’s been f*cked for a long time, it’s been fucked since the beginning. It’s overwhelming and I have to write about it.”
Listening to the three tracks she’s released so far, these feelings of confusion and tumult definitely come through. Listen to “Offering” above and look for more from Chelsea as the album’s release date approaches.
<em’Hiss Spun will be out 9/22 via Sargent House. Get it here.
