Chelsea Wolfe- "Flatlands"

With her new, acoustic album dropping next week via Sargent House--the title is Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs--here's a less session'd version of the track "Flatlands." Not only does Chelsea's voice on this track sound pretty dark and seductive, but the strings that wrap around this fully realized version of the song are absolutely beautiful.

Chelsea Wolfe- "Flatlands" (Glassroom Sessions)

Experimental California songwriter Chelsea Wolfe has a new album on the way that is being dubbed an "acoustic emanation." In advance of the album's release, Wolfe recorded a live version of one of the new tracks for Sargent House's Glassroom Sessions. The song is called "Flatlands," and it presents a previously unseen--or overlooked--piece of Wolfe's personality: her more tender side.

"I want simplicity," she admits over a gently lilting classical guitar arpeggio. Simplicity is the name of the game on this track, which features remarkably spare instrumentation and showcases the gentle, melodic qualities of Wolfe's voice. The track builds up about a minute in with some gently bowed strings, but otherwise maintains a soothing, minimalist atmosphere that stands in stark contrast to the doom folk of her 2011 LP Apokalypsis. With music this open and bare, songwriting quality takes precedent over atmosphere; thankfully, Wolfe's lyrics and melodic ideas on this track are very memorable. If this track suggests the direction that Wolfe will be taking with her new album, I'm excited to see if she can sustain this level of quality.

The new album will be out this fall on Sargent House.