You probably know by now that I’m a massive fan of Chelsea Wolfe. Rachel True and I recently had her on The Circle Is PodCast, and I fully fan-girled (as one should). Over time, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Chelsea and building a genuine friendship with this remarkably talented human being. It’s rare to meet someone whose artistry feels as boundless and groundbreaking as hers, yet who also remains so down-to-earth and kind-hearted. Chelsea’s music is something otherworldly—a fusion of raw emotion and an ethereal depth that truly defies genre. Every piece she creates feels like it transports you to a place beyond words, where sound becomes something almost mystical. Her ability to weave together such diverse influences—everything from doom folk to industrial rock—speaks to just how innovative she is as a musician. And it’s not just about technical skill or pushing boundaries; Chelsea has this uncanny way of pouring her soul into every song, making her music both intensely personal and universally resonant.
So when she asked me to listen to her follow-up EPs for She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, entitled Unbound (Acoustic) and Undone (Remixes), and to craft an official bio for them, I was beyond honored. These two releases showcase the many facets of Chelsea’s artistry. Unbound strips her sound down to its raw essence, revealing an intimacy that’s almost haunting in its simplicity. Undone takes that core and reshapes it into something entirely new, a fresh sonic landscape that reimagines the original in bold, unexpected ways. Both EPs are perfect reflections of who Chelsea is as an artist: fearless, evolving, and always pushing the envelope.
By the way, you can check out the podcast with her here:
Here’s the full-length bio I wrote after immersing myself in the EPs, listening to them on repeat. The official version ended up being more concise and arranged according to the order of the releases, but with Chelsea’s permission to share, this is where my thoughts settled as I delved into the intricate layers of these tracks:
Chelsea Wolfe’s She Reaches Out Triptych: She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, Unbound, and Undone Full Bio
By Mat Auryn
In Chelsea Wolfe’s She Reaches Out triptych, three voices stir—three “She”s—each echoing across the chasms of time, their songs weaving through the fabric of past, present, and future. Spinning the threads of fate, Wolfe’s music moves through the hands of time, transforming with each passage. This is a tale spoken in the language of wyrd, much like the Norns who carve the runes of destiny into the bark of the world tree. Wolfe’s music, steeped in mythic echoes, becomes a journey—a ritual of transformation that unravels the known and reshapes it into the possible. As the songs flow through different phases and hands, they evolve while remaining deeply connected to their focal point. Like a phoenix, Wolfe’s music burns with passion, smolders with determination, and is reborn from its own ashes of lessons learned.
At the center of this triptych stands She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, the solid trunk of the world tree, firmly grounded in the present. Here, Wolfe faces the relentless tide of time, where the only constant is change. Her voice, steady and luminous, pierces through the haze, reaching backward to the self that was, and forward to the self yet to be. It is the voice of one who knows the power of shedding what no longer serves, standing at the threshold where light and shadow meet, like the full moon at the peak of its power and potency. The music is both sparse and lush, a cauldron and crucible where each song is cast, tempered, and released—a ritual of rebirth and self-determination.
Beneath this trunk lie the roots, ancient and deep, in Unbound, where Wolfe returns to her own musical roots, stripping the songs down to their raw essence—just her voice, a guitar, or piano—capturing vulnerability and the unfiltered truth. The music here is unadorned, primal as earth freshly turned. This is the realm of the past, of solitude, where every note is a whisper in the dark, every chord a step deeper into the underworld of the self. Like a waning moon, Unbound carries the weight of what has been, releasing what no longer serves.
Unbound is a passage into the core, where the music stands exposed, stripped and skyclad — each one a reflection in the stillness, breaking through the silence but also using that empty space as a container to home in on the music. Each track is a rite of passage, a descent into the heart, where music exists unbound, unguarded, and devastatingly true. Unbound is the sound of vulnerability, laid bare, where the music is not merely heard, but felt as a pulse beneath the skin. In this stark landscape, the Spiritbox cover of “Cellar Door” concludes this EP, the song’s themes of time, cycles, and the release of attachments and vices fitting seamlessly into the triptych’s meditation on transformation and letting go.
And then there is Undone, the branches of this world tree stretching outward into the unknown aethers. Chelsea Wolfe’s remix EP Undone reimagines the dark landscapes of She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, reshaping each track into something both familiar and profoundly new. Wolfe entrusts her music to others, releasing it like a thread handed to the Fates to spin anew. These tracks are refashioned and reimagined by artists beyond her core band—individuals she deeply respects—yet they still carry the essence of where they began. Wolfe describes it as “an alchemical process, where the songs disintegrate and reform into a renewed vision of the sound.”
On Undone, the mood shifts from ethereal to visceral, with remixers exploring the liminal spaces of potential within Wolfe’s original compositions. Like a waxing moon, Undone grows in intensity, each track building upon the last, as the remixes take shape in new and unexpected ways. ††† (Crosses)—a project led by Chino Moreno of Deftones and Shaun Lopez of Far—opens with a remix of “Tunnel Lights,” layering industrial beats and Moreno’s ethereal vocals to create a dark, cinematic atmosphere that deepens the track’s nocturnal energy. Boy Harsher, known for their darkwave and gothic synth-pop sound, reinterprets “House of Self-Undoing” into a club-ready anthem, infusing a trip-hop alchemy with elements of R&B that allow Wolfe‘s vocals to branch out into a new context.
Forest Swords blends ambient, dub, and post-rock elements in his remix of “Whispers In The Echo Chamber,” adding a rich, atmospheric layer that emphasizes the track’s mystical and expansive qualities, as if drawing out its hidden essence. Ash Koosha’s remix of “Dusk” effervesces like an elixir of change, distilling the essence of transformation into every note and evolving the track into something otherworldly. Full of Hell’s remix of “Eyes Like Nightshade” morphs the track into a goetic summoning, channeling dark, ritualistic energy that invokes the chaotic power of a summoning circle. The EP closes with Justin K. Broadrick of Godflesh, who recasts “Everything Turns Blue” into a brooding, industrial incantation.
Together, these three works form a cohesive tapestry spun from the threads of memory, moment, and possibility. The She Reaches Out triptych is a contemplation on the nature of change, an excursion through the ouroboric cycles that shape us, much like the phases of the moon. It mirrors the waning moon’s release of the past, the full moon’s potent embrace of the present, and the waxing moon’s gathering energy for the future. It calls us to reach across time, to grasp the threads of what was and what could be, and to find strength in the act of becoming. In these songs, we are reminded of the power that lies in the acceptance of the past, the nexus of the present, and the fearless imagination of the future, all bound together by the thread that connects them.
Tunnel Lights (From “She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She” LP)
Eyes Like Nightshade [Full of Hell Remix] (From “Undone” EP)
Place in the Sun (From “Unbound” EP)
