CHELSEA WOLFE – Death Is Not The End & The Dar
Chelsea Wolfe has shared two new songs at once, “Death Is Not The End” and “The Dark”, her first new material since last year’s collaboration with HEALTH on “Mean”. This is also the first taste of her ninth studio album, the follow-up to 2024’s She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She. Both tracks are out now via Loma Vista Recordings.
“Death Is Not The End” opens almost silently: soft acoustic guitar, Wolfe’s vocals barely above a whisper, contemplating mortality without flinching from it. It holds that hush for a long stretch before breaking into a heavy, distorted finale, guitar and bass pushing up underneath her voice. Longtime collaborator Ben Chisolm worked on the track alongside former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck and session drummer Matt Chamberlain, known for his work with Tori Amos and Fiona Apple. The video, shot among ocean scenes with Wolfe in frame throughout, matches the song’s slow build toward something overwhelming.
“The Dark” takes a folkier route into the same headspace. Acoustic fingerpicking and airy, layered vocals open the track, with Wolfe singing about becoming unfamiliar to herself, a stranger glimpsing what’s still to come. Drummer Stella Mozgawa, who’s played with Warpaint and Courtney Barnett, and bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, who’s worked with Air and Beck, join Chisolm here. The song builds toward its own quiet eruption by the end, never fully breaking the somber mood but adding just enough weight to carry it.
Each song rushes to its loudest moment. Both spend most of their runtime convincing you they’ll stay quiet, then prove you wrong right at the end.
Alongside the songs, Wolfe is also the face of GHOSTS, a five-fragrance collection from Heretic Parfum that used both tracks as the soundtrack for its launch. It’s a strange pairing on paper, but it tracks with an artist who’s spent years building a world where darkness and beauty barely separate.
Tour dates:
UK festival:
- Aug. 20 / Bristol, UK / ArcTangent Festival
North America (with Jonathan Hultén):
- Sep. 16 / San Francisco, CA / Curran Theatre
- Sep. 18 / Seattle, WA / The Moore Theatre
- Sep. 19 / Salem, OR / Elsinore Theatre
- Sep. 20 / Portland, OR / Roseland Theater
- Sep. 22 / Salt Lake City, UT / The Union Event Center
- Sep. 24 / Denver, CO / Paramount Theatre
- Sep. 25 / Lawrence, KS / Liberty Hall
- Sep. 26 / St. Paul, MN / The Fitzgerald Theater
- Sep. 28 / Chicago, IL / The Riviera Theatre
- Sep. 29 / Columbus, OH / The Bluestone
- Sep. 30 / Detroit, MI / Masonic Jack White Theatre
- Oct. 5 / Boston, MA / Boch Center Shubert Theatre
- Oct. 6 / New York, NY / The Town Hall
- Oct. 8 / Munhall, PA / Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
- Oct. 9 / Glenside, PA / Keswick Theatre
- Oct. 10 / Washington, DC / Sixth & I
- Oct. 12 / Asheville, NC / The Orange Peel
- Oct. 13 / Atlanta, GA / Buckhead Theatre
- Oct. 14 / Nashville, TN / Marathon Music Works
- Oct. 16 / Dallas, TX / Texas Theatre
- Oct. 17 / Austin, TX / Emo’s
- Oct. 20 / Tucson, AZ / Rialto Theatre
- Oct. 21 / El Cajon, CA / The Magnolia
- Oct. 23 / Los Angeles, CA / The Orpheum Theatre
Europe (with A.A. Williams):
- Nov. 21 / Utrecht, Netherlands / TivoliVredenburg
- Nov. 23 / Berlin, Germany / Admiralspalast
- Nov. 24 / Hamburg, Germany / Große Freiheit 36
- Nov. 25 / Copenhagen, Denmark / Vega
- Nov. 27 / Oslo, Norway / Betong
- Nov. 28 / Stockholm, Sweden / Vasateatern
- Nov. 30 / Tallinn, Estonia / Helitehas
- Dec. 2 / Vilnius, Lithuania / LOFTAS
- Dec. 3 / Warsaw, Poland / Progresja
- Dec. 5 / Prague, Czech Republic / ARCHA+
- Dec. 6 / Vienna, Austria / Budocenter
- Dec. 7 / Budapest, Hungary / Akvárium Klub
- Dec. 9 / Mannheim, Germany / Capitol
- Dec. 11 / Fribourg, Switzerland / Fri-Son
- Dec. 12 / Milan, Italy / Live Club
- Dec. 13 / Munich, Germany / Isarphilharmonie
- Dec. 15 / Antwerp, Belgium / Trix
- Dec. 16 / Paris, France / Casino de Paris
- Dec. 19 / Athens, Greece / FLOYD
