Chelsea Wolfe

Music like a black rain: An existential concert – catharsis included.

Anyone who burrows as deeply into the sediment of human existence as Chelsea Wolfe needs strong nerves: The musician from California – whose concerts, with their thick fog and stroboscopic lightning, are a synergetic trip into the abyss – explores themes of vulnerability, fear, loss and self-destruction. Her goth/doom-folk has drawn in an increasingly large contingent of the metal and pop audiences, showing once again that good music can’t be boxed into any genre. At the International Summer Festival, Wolfe will present her latest, sixth album, »Hiss Spun,« created in collaboration with, among others, Queens of Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, with her three-person band. Distorted and groaning bass, heaving drums and ice-cold keyboard sounds lay the foundation for Chelsea’s plaintive singing – »acoustic self-destruction with cathartic results.« (Musikexpress). But there is still light at the end of the tunnel, despite Chelsea Wolfe’s existential alarmism. In the words of Henry Miller, whom Wolfe quotes on her website: »I know that underneath the mess everything is marvelous. I’m sure of it.« Support comes from Peter Wolff, specialist for dark-hypnotic soundscapes. The former guitarist of the Post-Black-Metal-Band Downfall of Gaia will present Tracks from his first record »repeat«.