Interview: Charlotte Wessels (English version)

It’s not every day that you get to talk to an artist that means a lot to you and has shaped your music taste through the years. Charlotte Wessels, who we know as the ex-singer of the Dutch band Delain, is now releasing her new album called “The Obsession”.

The album is the embodiment of the word “abundance”, it has every small detail a great album should have. From amazing lyrics with themes like self-doubt, fear, to poetry, myths and unapologetic love songs, gospel choirs and incredibly beautiful guitar riffs - “The Obsession” has it all.

I had the pleasure to talk to Charlotte in the beginning of this month and here’s what she shared with me:

• K: For anyone that has been following your career since the Delain split up and have heard your previous two records, “Tales from Six Feet Under” vol I and vol II, have seen you evolve as a solo musician and an artist. I think it’s safe to say that “The Obsession” sounds much heavier than the previous two records. Can you tell me more about combining the soft and poetic with the heavy? What was the sound you were looking for?

C: In my mind, that always goes hand in hand. There were many circumstances that have left me to do less heavy things for the two compilation records. The fact that, when I started, I said that Patreon will act like a side-project from Delain and that anything that isn’t metal, I will be putting in my Patreon, but also just the fact that I was, after all, a little bit more limited here, with the digital instruments, than I was now when I was recording with the full band again. Yes, I’ve been experimenting a lot with different genres but for this album I really sat down and I thought which are the songs that make me the happiest - this is what came out of that. Of course, along the process of rearranging and recording with the band, the album became even heavier, also through their influence.

For me it’s not necessarily a contradiction. When I look at the arrangement work that Timo has done, it feels like he took the elements that were already there and just magnified them. I feel it goes hand in hand, it’s not like I had to think how to marry the heavy with the soft. The one song, where it was a little bit of a challenge was “Dopamine” because that one was coming from the initial Patreon version, which was only harp and vocals, so we had to build a new arrangement altogether from the ground up, but otherwise I think it all went pretty smooth.

• K: When “The Exorcism” came out in May, I was immediately drawn to the lyrics, I like the darkness of it. Then “Chasing Sunsets” came out, now you’ve released “The Crying Room”. I can see that you talk about fear and self-doubt. Can you share what brought these darker lyrics to “The Obsession”?

C: I didn’t necessarily say “this has to be darker”. If anything, I usually go over the songs to make sure that they’re not too bleak. Making music can be quite cathartic and especially when I’m stuck in a certain feeling, it can really help me get out of it, to do something with it, either writing or making music about it. It comes quite naturally, but the idea wasn’t to make a theme album. It wasn’t until I sat down and took all the songs that I thought would make it to the album – I was like “Oh, let’s see what these are all about” and I realized that I had such a red thread going through it. But it’s there and it’s allowed to be there.

• K: And how long did it take you to make “The Obsession”?

C: What I do is, I write a new song every month in Patreon still and I made the songwriting of “The Obsession” a part of that. The first version of the songs I put out on Patreon are the songs I made here in the basement studio, with the digital instruments. I think the very first song that came out on Patreon that made it to this album was “All You Are” and I think that was released in the summer of 2022. After that I had roughly 12 months to do the songs and then there was additional time where we re-wrote and re-arranged them, then mix and master, and then the waiting, which is not even waiting because you do all the preparation and videos.

• K: We have to mention, of course, that you did the album with Otto Schimmelpenninck, Timo Somers and Joey Marin de Boer, which we know from Delain, and now Sophia Vernikov joining on piano. You’ve been working with these guys for a long time, what was it like to do the album and write new music again with them?

C: It was very meaningful and special, just very wonderful that even after the split we’ve always kept our personal connections. We hung out, we go on holidays with Otto’s family. But to be able to share the musical synergy as well, it was very lovely. Initially, we started recording separately so we can have space and time to think about the details, but after that, the first instrument we recorded together in a studio, were the drums. We had everyone in the studio and everyone was playing their instruments at the same time so we can get that band feeling and get the songs right. It felt really connected and I wanted people to be able to really hear that on the record.

• K: You’re a very open person on social media, you share your life, your trips, like the recent one in England. You also share on Patreon and you stay connected with your fans - is there something that you think should still remain hidden and not for everyone to see?

C: I have my limits. For example, my husband - he’s very, very involved in what I’m doing since the beginning. When the Patreon became a full-time thing, he started helping and now completely took over the administration. Now he’s doing more and more, he has a lot of contact with bookers and crew, it’s really become a two-person job. However, he still doesn’t show his face on social media, on Patreon as well. When we do the live streams, he stays off frame. Of course, some people know what he looks like and it’s not a secret, but it’s just something that we don’t want to be part of it all. Also, same for my family, I would not post photos with my brother’s or my sister’s children.

When it comes to the dark side of being more public, the stalker behavior - at one point I had “hate pages”. I wore a top that was too revealing and that’s why I got “hate pages”. That didn’t bother me at first, but at some point, I started receiving threatening messages and they included a photo of someone close to me. And that’s like a hard limit. But other than that, I’m an open person and I like to connect with people, I’m not a complete open book and I don’t have to be, but I genuinely enjoy to connect with people and meet people in the venues after a show, to extend that adrenaline rush. I’m aware that I’m quite open but I have my limits.

• K: Oh, I am so sorry you had to go through this, I hope it happened only once…

C: It wasn’t only once but recently it’s been pretty much okay.

• K: I am a very big fan of lyrics and I have to talk to you about it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but “Ode To The West Wind” ft Alissa White-Gluz, reminds me very much of a poem by Percy Shelly. Was it inspired by it or?

C: It’s not just inspired by it - the title of the poem is literally the one I used for the song as well. I’m not even going to pretend that it’s anything else than that, and you know, I’ve done songs that were inspired by literature or poems. I usually use them as inspiration and then I tell my own story about it. In this one – I love the poem so much that I rearranged it to make it in a chorus structure but it’s pretty much the poem adapted to the music. I also think there are multiple ways to interpret it nowadays.

Like Shelly’s admiration of the forces of nature, he wishes that he could be as unstoppable as nature, as unlimited and uncontrollable. And as someone that is always afraid and anxious, I relate to that a lot. But it’s also about his legacy and how he wishes to be remembered. We did a video for this song and we played with this concept and humanity’s legacy in nature. What we did is, we took a couple of classical paintings and we recreated them but we added trash, because as humans, I think this is our legacy at this point which is very sad. But just to illustrate how completely obsessed you can be with a poem like that and then make the music, and find another angle to it. So, thank you Percy Shelly.

• K: Yes, thank you Percy Shelly. I can also hear a lot of influence by Greek mythology, like “flying too close to the sun” or the muse in “The Crying Room”. Was this also a topic in your mind while writing?

Yes, the beginning of “The Odyssey” by Homer is, in my own words, “Muse, sing to me about this great man that did so many wonderful things.”

I was working on a song about fear of failure and I don’t know why I was in mythology world in my mind, but I was like “No, Muse, sing to me about someone that is completely terrified but does it anyway”. So yes, I was definitely inspired by myths. With “flying too close to the sun” as well, even though it’s a completely different story, but I thought that for those who noticed, it would be nice to put something already known in a different context. Percy Shelly stayed within the context until the video, but in “The Crying Room”, it’s twisted from the beginning.

• K: You’ve mentioned a few times during this interview self-doubt and fear. Was this a feeling you had while writing “The Obsession” or have you always battled with that as an artist?

C: I think it has always been there. I may be more aware of it now and maybe I’ve felt like I had to repress it in the past, but now I’m trying more to work with it. To give you a very concrete example - I’ve always been frustrated by the fact that I would practice singing and it sounds fine but I will get on stage, and my adrenaline is high, my heartbeat is very fast, but I tell myself “You shouldn’t be nervous and you will perform like you usually do”.

Whereas nowadays, I try to take a new approach. It’s no use to tell yourself not to be nervous because you will be anyway. Instead, it’s maybe better to train performing while you’re nervous. That’s why I now have a treadmill here and I practice singing the songs while on the treadmill, because my heartrate will be high, my breath will be fast, just like when being on stage. But I haven’t always allowed that feeling it to be present. Now that I do, I feel like I might be dealing with it in healthier ways.

• K: We can’t skip the song “Praise” and the gospel choir that goes just so well with it. It sounds incredible, your high notes, the choir, Timo’s guitars. Where did that idea come from?

Yes, that riff is one of my favourites. Timo knocked it out of the park with this one. I wrote the chorus and that’s the first thing I wrote about the song – the word “praise” just stuck. From the very beginning, I felt like it had gospel vibes. I thought if this is going to be in the album, I want to extend it to its fullest, to have the choir on there and they did absolutely amazing. It was really fun recording with the choir. That last part of the song was completely improvised while recording, so if anyone wants to check them out, they’re called G-Roots.

• K: If you could do the soundtrack for any TV series or a movie, which one would you choose?

C: I don’t know, part of me is thinking something fantasy, because I love fantasy films, but in my writing, I keep it more grounded. My mind also goes to something like “Watership Down” maybe. There’s already very beautiful music with that, but I also love how thay mixed fable and myth, and politics, and social issues in a book about rabbits. Let’s pick that one.

• K: Talking about obsessions today, what is your current music obsession?

C: I have been enjoying Vola’s latest work a lot, not because we’re going on tour with them. Also, Zeal and Ardor, also classical music which I haven’t done in a long time and it’s fun. I’m trying to expand my horizons a little bit so I am listening to newer metal playlists, just to keep up with what’s new in music.

• K: Last two questions, you mentioned the upcoming tour with Vola and there’s also the premiere of “The Obsession” live on the 4-th of October. How does it feel to go back on the road?

C: It’s amazing, I cannot wait. I want to perform the songs, I’d like to reconnect with the audience and be on the road with the buddies again. I’m also excited to be on tour with Vola so, I can’t wait.

• K: “All You Are” from the album feels like the song where you finally give yourself credit and you give yourself love. Is it a song where you talk more to yourself or are you talking to someone else?

C: It would have been really lovely as a cathartic moment to the album, where I’m doubting myself at every corner, if this was written for myself but no, it’s written about someone else. It’s an actual traditional love song, unapologetically so. In fact, I think the one I wrote it for just came home from work.

You can now stream the album here:

Listen to the new album here:

Charlotte Wessels “The Obsession“

1. Chasing Sunsets
2. Dopamine (feat. Simone Simons)
3. The Exorcism
4. Soulstice
5. The Crying Room
6. Ode To The West Wind (feat. Alissa White-Gluz)
7. Serpentine
8. Praise
9. All You Are
10. Vigor And Valor
11. Breathe
12. Soft Revolution (2024)

Charlotte Wessels online: Web, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.