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Chelsea Wolfe: Tiny Desk Concert

Not long after her arrival, Chelsea Wolfe carefully arranged a handful of objects on the Desk in front of her — a dagger, a chalice, a pentacle and flower — all inspired by the Magician tarot card, which symbolizes new beginnings. But if there was a sleight of hand performed during her set, it was the way she stripped down her often colossal sound to its barest, most intimate elements, revealing the profound beauty within.

“Whispers in the Echo Chamber,” a dark and distorted rumination on intrusive thoughts and the struggle to let go, for example, is more fragile here, with Wolfe’s breathtakingly beautiful voice front-and-center. While most of this Tiny Desk features material from She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She — and the upcoming Unbound EP, its acoustic companion — Wolfe closes with “Flatlands,” which originally appeared on the 2012 album Unknown Rooms.

This is Wolfe’s second appearance at the Tiny Desk. Her first was in 2016, following the release of Abyss.

SET LIST

  • “Whispers in the Echo Chamber”
  • “Dusk”
  • “Place in the Sun”
  • “Flatlands”

MUSICIANS

  • Chelsea Wolfe: vocals, guitar
  • Ben Chisholm: piano

TINY DESK TEAM

  • Producer: Robin Hilton
  • Director/Editor: Maia Stern
  • Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
  • Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
  • Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame
  • Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
  • Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
  • Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
  • Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Joshua Bryant
  • Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
  • Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
  • VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

Copyright 2024 NPR

Robin Hilton
Robin Hilton is known as the host of NPR's New Music Friday podcast, the former co-host of All Songs Considered and for his name that appears in white bubble letters above every concert at the Tiny Desk, a series he helped start in 2008 with Bob Boilen and Stephen Thompson. He produced several early acts, including the second-ever performer in the series, Vic Chesnutt, and suggested naming the series Tiny Desk after Tiny Desk Unit, a band Boilen was in in 1979. He's since produced performances at the Desk by everyone from Sharon Van Etten and Son Lux to Steve Martin, Harry Styles and Chance the Rapper.