The Grime and the Glow begins on misleadingly optimistic footing; “everybody’s feeling fine”, Chelsea Wolfe sings over the Deerhunter-esque throb of Advice & Vices. It’s an upbeat start to the album that is undermined as the song fades through a collage of air-raid siren moans and into the minor-chord acoustics of Cousins of the Antichrist. That track plays out to Wolfe lamenting “All went down/All insane/Found their Love/All in vein”, multiple repetitions of the last line leaving the listener wrongfooted. Despite the seemingly cheery start, this is an album that finds it strength in its complexities.
Wolfe - as may be inevitable for a female singer-songwriter whose work is tinged with gloom - is often compared to PJ Harvey. Whilst the comparisons aren’t entirely unfounded - Noorus’ sinister blues in particular recalls Harvey’s work on Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions - Wolfe’s songwriting is far more affecting when the Harvey influences are left behind.
Benjamin is the floating spectre of Radiohead’s Sit down Stand Up, stripped of epileptic clicks and pulses, but with an uneasiness more lingering than the immediate tetchiness of Yorke and co.’s song; the lo-fi buzz on both The Whys and Demons cultivates an eerily distant sense of urgency; the stuttering submarine echoes of closing track Widow hint at both claustrophobia and freedom.
The album reaches a devastating peak on Halfsleeper. A haunting 6 minutes, the song inhabits a stark, post-apocalyptic landscape whilst remaining intensely personal. “We’re streaming in the wind like cassette tape or jellyfish/Long dark veins and records playing memories”, Wolfe intones, over sparse chords and a mist of vocal echoes. The song both lifts and suffocates; as such it is an emblematic centrepiece to The Grime and the Glow as a whole.
At some points the darkness feels a little overwrought (particularly the scratching guitar and wordless moan of Deep Talks, which, at 3 minutes long, feels like an intermission stretched beyond breaking point). Far more often, however, exploring the album’s depths is an invigorating experience. Heavy despair is tempered by subtle flashes of hope - an unexpected major chord or lyrical shaft of light soaring above the gloom. There is death, but alongside it is optimism - fleeting, powerful and necessary.
WATCH: Halfsleeper (Live Acoustic) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WrILPqRaDo
chelseawolfe.net
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