Chelsea Wolfe

Chelsea Joy Wolfe (born November 14, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and musician.

Her work blends elements of gothic rock, doom metal, and folk.

Growing up in Northern California with a country musician father, Wolfe began writing and recording songs during her childhood.

In 2006 Wolfe composed an album, titled Mistake in Parting, which was never officially released.

Of the album, Wolfe said: "I was 21 years old and wrote a shitty singer-songwriter breakup album. I didn't even really want to be a musician back then, but a lot of my friends were like 'let's do this, I've got some producer friends' and they helped me make this over-produced, terrible record... I sort of took a break from music for a while since I wasn't happy with what I was making".

Wolfe later commented that she scrapped the album largely because it had been written about events in her personal life: "I was writing really personal stuff about my own life, and I didn't feel comfortable at all... I didn't want [my music] to be so much about myself, and I just had to find a new perspective".

She earned underground critical acclaim for her albums The Grime and the Glow (2010) and Apokalypsis (2011), which blended gothic and folk elements.

Wolfe's first widely released album, The Grime and the Glow (2010), was issued on New York-based independent label Pendu Sound Recordings, preceded that same year by the limited-edition albums Soundtrack VHS/Gold and Soundtrack VHS II.

Her 2010 cover of Burzum's "Black Spell of Destruction" helped her receive her first exposure after it was highlighted in a notable blog.

Her next album, Apokalypsis (2011), stylized as Ἀποκάλυψις, gained her an underground following, as well as critical acclaim, receiving favorable reviews in Pitchfork and CMJ.

Wolfe toured extensively in North America and Europe to support both albums, and suffered from extreme stage fright; when she initially began performing live, Wolfe would wear a black veil over her face.

"Performing was something that I had to learn," she said.

"I could barely handle being onstage for the first few years, and it's the reason it took me so long to start my career as a musician".

In 2012, Wolfe covered five songs by British anarcho-punk band Rudimentary Peni, and issued them as A Tribute To Rudimentary Peni on February 17 as a free download via Pendu Sound.

Wolfe signed with the label Sargent House in 2012 to release her third album.

Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs was released on October 16, 2012, and featured a more folk-oriented sound, as opposed to her earlier work, which had been heavily centered on droning electric guitars and distortion.

The acoustic album contained once-orphaned' songs", according to Wolfe. On July 28, 2012, the first single, "The Way We Used To", was premiered on NPR. On September 20, the second single, "Appalachia," was premiered on The Fader.

Wolfe released a live album, Live at Roadburn, on September 28, 2012, recorded that April 12 at the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands.

In her later albums Pain Is Beauty (2013), Abyss (2015) and Hiss Spun (2017) Wolfe incorporated elements of neofolk, electronic music and heavy metal.

She later rerecorded the Peni songs with her band at Southern Studios in London, and released them as an EP, Prayer for the Unborn, in January 2013 on Southern Records.

Wolfe's fourth studio album, Pain Is Beauty, was released September 3, 2013, as well as an album trailer, followed by a supporting North American tour.

Wolfe also contributed guest vocals to the American post-metal band Russian Circles' fifth studio album, Memorial, released in October 2013.

Wolfe and Russian Circles toured Europe together in late 2013.

During 2013 and 2014, Wolfe released two split 7-inch singles with King Dude, Sing Songs Together... and Sing More Songs Together..., and a live EP, Chelsea Wolfe Folkadelphia Session May 31, 2014.

In 2014, she released a long-form film, Lone, featuring music from Pain Is Beauty and directed by Mark Pellington.

"Carrion Flowers", "Iron Moon" and "After the Fall" were released as the second, third and the fourth singles, respectively, from her fourth album, Abyss (2015).

Abyss featured Wolfe exploring neofolk and electronic music and embracing more of her heavy metal influences.

On April 1, 2016, Wolfe released the non-album 7-inch single "Hypnos", preceded by a music video on March 22.

In January 2017, she announced a UK/European tour to begin in April.

Her fifth studio album, Hiss Spun, was released by Sargent House on September 22, 2017.

The album featured guitar work from Queens of the Stone Age member Troy Van Leeuwen, was recorded by Kurt Ballou and features a guest appearance from Aaron Turner.

Her evolution continued with Birth of Violence (2019) and She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (2024).

In addition to her solo career, she has collaborated with Jess Gowrie, to form Mrs. Piss; Converge, on Bloodmoon: I (2021); and Tyler Bates, on the 2022 slasher film X soundtrack.

Wolfe was born in Roseville, California, near Sacramento, and raised in both towns.

She is of English, Norwegian, Swedish, and German descent.

Her father was in a country band and owned a home studio.

Wolfe lived with her grandmother during a part of her childhood, who taught her about aromatherapy, Reiki and "other realms".

By the age of 7, she had written her first poem, and by the age of 9, had written and recorded songs which she later described as "basically Casio-based gothy R&B songs".

Of her childhood, Wolfe said, "I grew up pretty fast. I had older sisters. By the time I was 11, I was drinking 40s."

She struggled with sleep paralysis as a child and through her teens, which landed her in the hospital for sleep studies; these experiences eventually became material for her albums Abyss and Hiss Spun.