The second offering off Chelsea Wolfe's next album, Birth of Violence, bears the plain, yet, very much imposing title, American Darkness, and comes with an equally arresting, black and white video, directed by Karlos Rene Ayala. In Chelsea's own words, it is an "expression of freedom and beautiful humans being themselves."
Her statement continues: "It began as a sort of homage to a scene in the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia, where the characters are singing along to the Aimee Mann song, Wise Up, but I wanted our version to be explored through the lens of The Tarot. I’ve been reading tarot cards for myself for many years, and researching the symbolic expressions of the cards for this video made me want to dive even deeper. To represent that, I played both The Fool and The High Priestess cards in the video, to embody both the beginning of the journey, and the realization that the sacred knowledge I was seeking was inside me all along. We cast friends to play a few other tarot archetypes, and Karlos’ idea was to bring the symbols and signifiers into the contemporary; deconstructed, and made everyday - 'the magical and the unexceptional.' I loved that. At the same time, we really wanted to challenge the binary of the traditional tarot cards, and give them more diversity, which is something important that many cool artists and witches are doing. I’m such a fan of Karlos Rene Ayala as a writer, director, documentarian and friend, and have looked forward to making a video with him for a long time."
American Darkness, together with the previously unveiled, The Mother Road, offer a deep understanding on how cleaner and barer Wolfe's direction is on her upcoming album, compared to the full metal and heavy sound of Hiss Spun, as the artist takes on her singer-songwriter origins for which she became known and loved in the earlier stages of her career.
Birth of Violence comes out September 13th, 2019 on Sargent House.
Video directed by Karlos Rene Ayala
Artist photo by Ben Chisholm
Cover Photo by Nona Limmen
Chelsea Wolfe Acoustic Tour:
31/08: Pasadena, CA - Pasadena Daydream Festival * (Non Acoustic Set)
18/10: San Diego, CA - Observatory North Park
19/10: Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
21/10: Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall
22/10: Estes Park, CO - Stanley Hotel
24/10: Chicago, IL - Metro
25/10: Detroit, MI - Senate Theater
26/10: Toronto, ONT - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
27/10: Montreal, QC - Le National
29/10: Boston, MA - Royale
31/10: Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
01/11: New York, NY - Brooklyn Steel
03/11: Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04/11: Charlotte, NC - McGlohon Theater
05/11: Atlanta, GA - Terminal West
06/11: Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
08/11: Dallas, TX - Texas Theatre
09/11: Austin, TX - Levitation
10/11: Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall
12/11: Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf
13/11: Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
15/11: Los Angeles, CA - The Palace Theatre
16/11: San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom
18/11: Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
20/11: Seattle, WA - The Showbox
21/11: Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre
* All dates with special guest Ioanna Gika except 8/31
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