Gloom-tinged songwriter Chelsea Wolfe has announced she's ready to deliver her fourth full-length in four years. Titled Pain Is Beauty, the album arrives September 3 through Sargent House.
Pain Is Beauty follows up 2012's Unknown Rooms and is described in a press release as homing in on the "morose and otherworldly" sounds of her older work, while also veering "in a decidedly more electronic direction than previous recordings." The songwriter described the song cycle as being about "how the mythology, landscapes and traditions of our ancestors affect our personalities today."
She added: "Honesty is what initially drew me to music, and I've been more honest and open with myself than ever through these songs. There is peace in truth. There is clarity in solitude. And there is power within simplicity and focus. Love is not always easy. Tormented love is something I understand more than society's skewed idea of what love should be. Love is indelible, severe, earnest, merciful. To push forward against the odds is to make history."
Wolfe recorded the LP with bandmates Ben Chisholm (who also co-produced the set), Kevin Dockter and Dylan Fujioka. The album is said to move from the dirge-like drive of "We Hit a Wall," to the minimalist pop of "The Warden" to the eight-minute "The Waves Have Come," which is apparently "a heartbreaking story of love, loss and death in a natural disaster."
The artist has unveiled a trailer for the album, which features sound samples. You can stream it down below.
Wolfe hits the road on a headlining tour at the end of the summer, which will have her playing Toronto on September 17. The rest of the tour info can be found beneath Pain Is Beauty's tracklisting.
Pain Is Beauty:
1. Feral Love
2. We Hit a Wall
3. House of Metal
4. The Warden
5. Destruction Makes the World Burn Brighter
6. Sick
7. Kings
8. Reins
9. Ancestors, the Ancients
10. They'll Clap When You're Gone
11. The Waves Have Come
12. Lone
Tour dates:
8/25 Los Angeles, CA - LA Historic Park (FYF Fest)
9/1 Tucson, AZ - Hoco Festival
9/3 Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom
9/4 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
9/6 Austin, TX - Mohawk
9/7 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's
9/8 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
9/9 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
9/10 Chapel Hill - Local 506
9/11 Washington DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
9/13 New York, New York - Bowery Ballroom
9/14 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
9/15 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
9/17 Toronto, ON - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
9/19 Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room at Crofoot Ballroom
9/20 Lexington, KY - Boomslang Festival
9/21 Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
9/22 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
9/24 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
9/25 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
9/27 Seattle, WA - Barboza
9/28 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
9/30 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
Pain Is Beauty follows up 2012's Unknown Rooms and is described in a press release as homing in on the "morose and otherworldly" sounds of her older work, while also veering "in a decidedly more electronic direction than previous recordings." The songwriter described the song cycle as being about "how the mythology, landscapes and traditions of our ancestors affect our personalities today."
She added: "Honesty is what initially drew me to music, and I've been more honest and open with myself than ever through these songs. There is peace in truth. There is clarity in solitude. And there is power within simplicity and focus. Love is not always easy. Tormented love is something I understand more than society's skewed idea of what love should be. Love is indelible, severe, earnest, merciful. To push forward against the odds is to make history."
Wolfe recorded the LP with bandmates Ben Chisholm (who also co-produced the set), Kevin Dockter and Dylan Fujioka. The album is said to move from the dirge-like drive of "We Hit a Wall," to the minimalist pop of "The Warden" to the eight-minute "The Waves Have Come," which is apparently "a heartbreaking story of love, loss and death in a natural disaster."
The artist has unveiled a trailer for the album, which features sound samples. You can stream it down below.
Wolfe hits the road on a headlining tour at the end of the summer, which will have her playing Toronto on September 17. The rest of the tour info can be found beneath Pain Is Beauty's tracklisting.
Pain Is Beauty:
1. Feral Love
2. We Hit a Wall
3. House of Metal
4. The Warden
5. Destruction Makes the World Burn Brighter
6. Sick
7. Kings
8. Reins
9. Ancestors, the Ancients
10. They'll Clap When You're Gone
11. The Waves Have Come
12. Lone
Tour dates:
8/25 Los Angeles, CA - LA Historic Park (FYF Fest)
9/1 Tucson, AZ - Hoco Festival
9/3 Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom
9/4 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
9/6 Austin, TX - Mohawk
9/7 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's
9/8 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
9/9 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
9/10 Chapel Hill - Local 506
9/11 Washington DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
9/13 New York, New York - Bowery Ballroom
9/14 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
9/15 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
9/17 Toronto, ON - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
9/19 Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room at Crofoot Ballroom
9/20 Lexington, KY - Boomslang Festival
9/21 Chicago, IL - The Bottom Lounge
9/22 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
9/24 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
9/25 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
9/27 Seattle, WA - Barboza
9/28 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
9/30 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall