THE FEMININE URGE

Oh, pull your boots on, boys
And push me down
I’m only here for your entertainment

I am a dark red liver stretched out on the rocks
All the poison, I convert it and I turn it to love
Here comes the feminine urge, I know it so well
To nurture the wounds my mother held

I first encountered musician and songwriter Chelsea Wolfe from her guest appearances on songs by post-hardcore bands Russian Circles and Deafheaven. But Wolfe has been recording her own eclectic mix of goth, metal and acoustic music since 2008. In early 2024, she released her seventh album titled She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, which introduces a palette of industrial and electronic sounds. According to the credits, nearly all instrumentation is electronic-based, though the overall tone still somehow feels starkly organic. The arrangements behind Wolfe’s bleary, wistful vocals primarily rely on keyboards, drums and bass, with the latter element often bone-shaking, even when played at moderate volume. Guitars are largely relegated to supplying ominous, but subtle textures, until some heavy hardcore blasts descend into the soundscape on the final song “Dusk.”

Many of the album’s lyrics are personal and concern Wolfe’s recent sobriety and transformation. Chelsea’s voice literally becomes the song’s title in the opening “Whispers in the Echo Chamber.” Heavy beats and haunting ambient effects surround her whispered words, reflecting the struggles of rebirth.

And I’ve been punished, I’ve been blessed
Surrounded by living ghosts, you see
I thought I had to swallow them bеfore they swallowed mе
But you only know the one I’ve been
I’ve shed a thousand skins since then
A curse upon the monster of more
That shit does not define me anymore

“Tunnel Lights” is pulled along by the repetition of a single austere piano chord, broken up by firestorms of distortion, as Wolfe ponders her past and future (“If you deny death, you deny life / Let it suffer, let it shine / What must be severed, lеft behind? / What is there yеt to find?”). Dramatically rising vocals on the crystal clear piano ballad “Place in the Sun,” accentuate the feeing of solace she may have finally found. The distant echo of eruptive drums perhaps recalls the unease of the past.

Safe with the one not so toilsome to love
I am safe in this body, safe in this heart
I have made it this far to live this life
Claim what you want and take your place in the sun
Hearing songs in the silence, wings in my lungs
And with the air, my guide, let me fly

As its title implies, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She displays an artist’s ongoing acceptance of life’s evolution. Chelsea Wolfe’s journey to grasp her own self-renewal is often a dark and unsettling one, but ultimately ends with a new sense of hope.

“The Feminine Urge” is a song from Prelude to Ecstasy, the debut album from the Last Dinner Party, a young London-based, four women and one nonbinary person quintet that has stirred up quite a buzz over the last few years. They’ve gone from opening for indie art rockers Black Midi to supporting the Rolling Stones at their 2022 Hyde Park concert. Their April 2023 single “Nothing Matters” went Top 20 in the UK, despite a startling chorus that boldly proclaims, “And you can hold me, like he held her / And I will fuck you like nothing matters.”

This single and “The Feminine Urge” both set an irresistible template for the rest of Prelude to Ecstasy. Brooding lead-ins, such as booming drum beats taken from the Ronettes‘ “Be My Baby,” or a sultry cinematic R&B passage that summons Lana Del Rey, conjure a mysterious late-night mood. Then, out of this dusky atmosphere, breathtaking melodic hooks emerge that effortlessly build upon each other in the best Queen, ABBA or classic 1960s girl group fashion. Stacked harmony vocals soar with intensity, often followed by perfect ringing guitar solos. Somehow it’s just as breathtaking, time and time again, as each song unfurls. How do they pull this off anyway?? Only the theatrical opening title track and the lush orchestral coda to the “Mirror” closer give the listener a few moments for quieter reflection. Otherwise, Prelude to Ecstasy is an arresting, nonstop rush of pure pop adrenaline. Do not miss this Last Dinner Party!

APRIL 19, 2024