Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs

Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs is a compilation album[5] from American singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe. It was released on October 16, 2012. The album is considered to be a collection of songs that were "once-orphaned, [and] given a home," rather than Wolfe's next full-length album.[5]

Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs
Compilation album by
Chelsea Wolfe
ReleasedOctober 16, 2012
Recorded2012
Studio
Private residence, Northern California
  • Wolfe's residence, Los Angeles
Genre
Length24:50
LabelSargent House
Producer
  • Chelsea Wolfe
  • Ben Chisholm
Chelsea Wolfe chronology
Apokalypsis
(2011)		 Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs
(2012)		 Pain Is Beauty
(2013)
Singles from Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs
  1. "The Way We Used To[2]"
    Released: July 28, 2012
  2. "Appalachia[3]"
    Released: September 20, 2012
  3. "Flatlands[4]"
    Released: September 28, 2012

Background

Once Wolfe signed with L.A. based Sargent House Records, they suggested that she re-released some of her older, acoustic music that was "floating around the internet"[6] and never saw a wide release. The majority of these tracks are songs that Wolfe had been working on for several years, but are new recordings of these tracks entirely, with the exception of the two digital bonus tracks, which are original recordings.

The song "Boyfriend" is a cover of the song by Karlos Rene Ayala, and was also co-composed by Ben Chisholm, a bandmate of Wolfe's.[7]

Release

On Oct. 9, the album was made available to stream for free via SoundCloud, after being previously leaked the month before.[8]

On January 25, 2013, a music video was released for the song, "Flatlands," as a collaboration with Converse and Decibel Magazine.[9]

Reception

Critical
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Consequence of Sound[10]
Pitchfork Media7.7/10.0[1]
Tiny Mix Tapes[11]
AllMusic[12]

Unknown Rooms was met with positive reviews from music critics, on Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Jayson Green of Pitchfork Media scored the album a 7.7, saying that, "Unknown Rooms is a short album, but its nine songs capture and sustain free-floating fear and menace," while Adrian Agacer of Tiny Mix Tapes gave the album four stars, stating, "This is a sparse album, Chelsea Wolfe’s quietest, most beautiful album to date, showcasing a vulnerability that simultaneously pushes the listener’s comfort level to its limits and is sincerely inviting in its simplicity. Unlike last year’s Apokalypsis, which had its moments of anarchic liveliness and heightened motions and speeds (“Demons"), Unknown Rooms is entirely built on pure rests and negative space, the nerve-racking space of silence."

Commercial

Unknown Rooms is Wolfe's first album to chart in the US, marking it her most successful album thus far.[13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Chelsea Wolfe except where noted.

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Flatlands"  4:00
2."The Way We Used To"  2:47
3."Spinning Centers"  3:09
4."Appalachia"  3:10
5."I Died With You"  0:32
6."Boyfriend"Karlos Rene Ayala
  • Karlos Rene Ayala
  • Ben Chisholm
3:51
7."Our Work Was Good"  1:53
8."Hyper Oz"  2:33
9."Sunstorm"  2:55
Total length:24:50
Digital bonus tracks[14]
No.TitleLength
10."Virginia Woolf Underwater"4:22
11."Gold"3:31
Total length:32:43

Personnel
  • Chelsea Wolfe – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, record producer
  • Ben Chisholm – drums, analog synths, piano, backing vocals, production
Additional personnel
  • Ezra Buchla – viola (3, 4)
  • Andrea Calderon – violin (1)
  • Daniel Denton – bass (2, 4, 7)
  • Jere Wolfe – guitar (7)

Charts
Chart (2012) Peak
position
Folk Albums 24
Heatseekers Albums 35

References
  1. "Album Review: Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs". October 17, 2012.
  2. "Song Premiere: Chelsea Wolfe, "The Way We Used To" : All Songs Considered Blog". NPR.com. July 28, 2012.
  3. "Song Premiere: Chelsea Wolfe, "Appalachia" – The Fader". thefader.com. September 20, 2012.
  4. ""Flatlands" – Chelsea Wolfe on Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. September 28, 2012.
  5. "Chelsea Wolfe's bio". chelseawolfe.net.
  6. "Chelsea Wolfe – Interview". chelseawolfemusic.tumblr.com. October 3, 2012.
  7. "Boyfriend – Karlos Rene Ayala A.K.A. Walker". December 18, 2007.
  8. "Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs on Soundcloud". October 9, 2012.
  9. ""Flatlands" – Chelsea Wolfe, music video". January 25, 2013.
  10. "Album Review: Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection Of Acoustic Songs". Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  11. "Album Review: Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs". tinymixtapes.com. October 24, 2012.
  12. "Album Review: Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs". allmusic.com. October 16, 2012.
  13. "Unknown Rooms on Billboard". billboard.com.
  14. "Unknown Rooms – Chelsea Wolfe on AmazonMP3". Amazon.com.
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