In the recent press for her forthcoming long-player ?????????? (said like “apokalypsis”), LA-based artist Chelsea Wolfe‘s sound is often referred to as “doom folk” or worse, but we find that to be a bit of a misnomer. As the bellowing dirge called “The Wasteland” indicates, she is simply a gifted singer and musician as interested in dark electronic soundscapes as she is in memorable songcraft. This cut from the as-yet-unreleased LP is all distorted organ drones, smashing drum-machine beats, and unsettling, discordant noise, but in the midst of that miasma of sound is Wolfe’s low-register croon, simultaneously calling us into the murk and warning us just how dismal it is down there. We can’t venture to call it soul, but damn if it doesn’t have that in spades. Hear the rest of Wolfe’s ?????????? when it’s available via Pendu Sound on August 23. (via Altered Zones)

The Wasteland

The Wasteland

The Wasteland

The Wasteland