Music
09 May 13

Chelsea Wolfe, live at The Sugar Club

Let’s get straight to the point: Chelsea Wolfe is an enthralling performer. From Sacramento, California, her dierse styles are reflected in as varied a Sugar Club crowd as you’re likely to see, with musicians Katie Kim and RSAG’s Jeremy Hickey among those eager to catch her Irish debut...

Statuesque and striking, Wolfe has only a violinist and keyboard player for company. She instantly captivates with an opening salvo of ethereal folk numbers from her current album, Unknown Rooms: A Collection Of Acoustic Songs. Her graceful voice both heals and devastates on the dark, haunting ‘Flatlands’ and ‘Boyfriend’.

She trades acoustic guitar for electric, returning with an axe-man and drummer for the second half of the performance, made up almost exclusively of tracks from 2011’s Apokalypsis LP. Huge walls of sound are slowly constructed, with elements of drone-metal, noise and blues drowning out Wolfe’s folkie timbre. The deafening climax of ‘Pale On Pale’ is drenched in reverb and enormous, swelling vocal loops. She’ll need a bigger venue next time.