Charlotte Wessels: "It's easy to get the wrong impression without context"

The mark that Charlotte Wessels has made in the symphonic metal scene is not to be underestimated. Almost two decades after her first appearance, the Dutch singer/songwriter keeps pushing forward with her solo career and shows no signs of looking back. Bringing on her side a group of talented musicians, including former bandmates Timo Somers, Otto Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oije and Joey Marin De Boer, the full-on experimental approach of recent years gives way to a more straight-forward approach. From intense orchestrals to dark shadings and trademark vocals, despite its familiar feel, "The Obsession" has a fresh and distinctive sound. Ahead of the album's release, we got the chance to have a behind the scenes look through the eyes of its creator.

Hi Charlotte!

Hey!

[Sounds of eight paws running around] Apologies for the background noise, there are two little cats here who do not feel like behaving.

Never apologize for cats!

Noted! So, if I were to use one word to describe "The Obsession", it would probably be 'adventurous'; was the creative process as dashing as it sounds?

Was it adventurous? Hmm, in a way it was, like a lot of the approach to how I made this record was new to me. Then, I also did two compilation albums ("Tales From Six Feet Under") which in terms of genre hopping and stuff were maybe even more adventurous, but as a process I think it's a good label to put on it!

Looking back, what is one thing that you feel has changed the most in the way you approach your music since the early days, and what has remained the same?

The thing that has remained the same is that, if I'm just talking for myself and not the music industry as a whole, I easiest write if I have a very clear lyrical concept or story or message that I want to convey; and I think that one thing that has changed is that I've become a lot better at finishing songs in their entirety. Four years ago, when I started Patreon I gave myself the challenge to write, record and release a song every month, and that has really taught me how to do that. I'm a bit of, I want to say perfectionist, but the reality is that I'm sort of insecure, so when I'm working on something I'll always keep wondering if it's good enough, if it's finished, where it needs to go, so I think that has changed over the years a lot.

Speaking of concepts and lyrics, I've always wondered, do they come before the music or is it the other way around?

Usually it kind of goes together, although sometimes I will have complete lyrics that are like poems and then I just have to, [does a quote sign] 'just have to' [laughs], put them to music. Before Patreon when I wrote the lyrics I always had an idea of, you know, maybe these chords could go underneath, or could hear that it sounds like an orchestral part or a riff, but of course before that I never made full productions, I always worked within the Delain writing team. It's really only been the last couple of years that I've been embracing that aspect of the production, but I never really think of lyrics without already kind of having in mind what the musical context would be, even back then. It is just that now the conceptualization of that context is a lot more prominent in my mind.

To have the entire band in the studio was something new

Since you mentioned the Delain team, what was it like working with Timo, Otto and Joey again?

It was absolutely wonderful! We have such a connection, a personal connection, a musical synergy... it was really wonderful, especially the drum recordings, it was the first part that we actually recorded like for reals for the album, and we did that with the entire band in the studio. We kind of wanted to test drive the arrangement and see if all the parts fit in together as well as we wanted, to have the bent feel already in those initial recordings for Joey, and we actually kept it. I think that in the genre it's quite common to edit everything very closely to the grid and have really processed drums, but we kept them; and that was really guiding for the rest of the recordings, but that was not what I was going to say. [Laughs] Like, that process of all us being in the studio together, I wanted to say together again, but this is actually not something that we've done before with Delain. Back then, usually each one recorded our parts individually and then it does come together, but to have the entire band in the studio that was something new and it was absolutely wonderful.

Well, I know it'd probably make more sense to tell this to Timo rather than you, but I love his guitar work, you know he's playing technical stuff, but never at the expense of the songs, so yeah please feel free to pass this on if you get a chance. [Laughs]

Oh, absolutely! [Laughs] He's had a big impact on this record as well, because when I started writing the songs, the same as I did for the pre previous two albums, I programmed the instruments and then I put them online in their first incarnation sort of, but after that in the rearranging process Timo was very heavily involved. He worked on the guitar arrangements and he worked on getting the songs ready for the band recordings, he's really put his mark both in his performance as well as his arrangements, which I am very grateful for, because I am also a fan obviously!

Now, as you mentioned earlier, although it's not as chaotic as "Tales...", there's still a lot going on in the new album, and what I found especially intriguing is how the songs always sound on target.

I mean, it's definitely more focused in terms of genre, but there is a lot going on in terms of arrangements. There's more wealth in everything, like when I was doing the songs by myself... I like to think in terms of the entire song and not necessarily just the vocals, but I am a vocalist, I'm not a guitarist or a drummer, so obviously when I work on the tracks that vocals will be the part that is the most fleshed out. But now, with the entire band involved we have huge guitar arrangements, Joey let loose his creativity on the drums, all of the different elements of the music now have someone who is specialized on that aspect of the music and then gone guts on it, which is amazing.

Also, in the mix we had to make some choices because we had such a wealth of things, like in the keys department Sophia (Vernikov) did wonderful, she played the grand piano and the Hammond, and we had Vikram Shankar involved who did additional arrangements and orchestrations, and in the beginning I thought I quite liked what I did with the synths, so maybe I'd just ask him for one or two songs that need a little bit extra, but then I was so I was so thrilled with the results that in the end I sent him everything... so we had huge key and orchestral parts, huge guitar parts and then also in the vocal department I also kind of built on things and we had of course the guest artists, I invited a gospel choir...

Praise!

Yeah! So all in all, I just wanted to emphasize or agree with you on that there is definitely a lot going on. [Laughs]

[After putting "Dopamine" out, Simone Simons] texted me that it was one of her favorite songs

Also have to say that, for me, both "Dopamine" and "Ode To The West Wind" stand out, as compositions and as collaborations too. Can you share more about them?

Both were first regular songs, not as duets, but they both have a reason why I think they are their true form as the duet that they are nowadays. For Simone (Simons), it lies in the fact that we've known each other for a very long time but we really connected at one point, and "Dopamine" is basically about feeling numb because of taking anti-depressants, because of that medication, and the very first time that I opened up about that in an interview, Simone texted me and we connected. Since then, we had a lot of chats and we hung out and we had collaborations, and then I put the song on the Patreon, this song which was about the same topic that we initially bonded over, and she texted me that it was one of her favorite songs. It feels kind of full circle to have her on this song, and we actually recorded it right here! [Shows her home studio]

Then, for "Ode To The West Wind", Alissa (White-Gluz) and I also have a very long history of doing collaborations, like we met back in 2013 and we did our first collaboration not long after that. One of the things that all of our collaborations have in common is that those songs are based on poems, not mine, they're based on classical poetry from the Romantic Era; this song is also like that, it is based on a poem also called "Ode To The West Wind" by Percy Shelley, and I felt like it fits so wonderfully and I kind of could already hear how her vocals would sound on it... so, I had to finish the initial version and I couldn't ask her back then, because the way it usually goes is like 'oh my, I have three days until my mixing day, I have to finish the song now' but I was very happy that she agreed to be on the final version for that.

The track that got off guard in the best way possible is "Vigor And Valor"; what was the inspiration behind it?

I think I'd written a lot of songs about fear in that time and at some point I wanted to write one about hyping yourself up to fight it. The lyrics are quite literal. I started from the verse, with the very proggy groove and the vocals that are through a vocoder, and from then on it just became weirder and weirder. [Laughs] But I like it, I think it's a nice crescendo in the record, because there are so many songs which are kind of about the fear itself, and this one and "Soft Revolution" are both about being afraid and doing the thing anyway, which I like; and I like also that they're at the end of the record, so it's sort of a positive conclusion!

I'd love to do a short film

So, I know it's probably just me, but the video for "The Exorcism" kind of felt like a sequel to "Afkicken"... [Background notification sounds intensify]

Give me a moment to turn on my WhatsApp because it's making a lot of noises. Yeah, so we wanted that video to really represent the fear and this claustrophobic feeling, and like the feeling as it move at a different pace from the world around you, and definitely "Afkicken" has a fear in there as well, although that's a literal fear of monster. [Laughs]

[Laughs] I'm low key hoping that you'll continue this horror-themed approach and complete this trilogy of shorts.

Oh, I would love to do ten more, it's my favorite thing! You know, I have a long list of things that I want to do, that maybe I will never do, but I'd love to do a short film or something like that.

And a soundtrack, maybe?

Of course!

Choosing "The Exorcism" as a first single was a pretty bold move, too, I mean it's not catchy or flashy or anything. What made you go with that?

When I started thinking about the singles, I wanted to do "The Exorcism", "Chasing Sunsets" and "Dopamine" but then at one point we changed it around because we thought, you know, maybe "Chasing Sunsets" is a more easily digestible song I'd say. Then we shot the video clips and that's actually the point where I felt we'd actually have to do "The Exorcism"; I mean, it is my favorite song on the record, but also the images represented the album better as a whole. I switched it around because I thought this is really what I want the first impression to be, both the sound and the visuals.

And the thing is also, when you put out the first single, the photos of that are also going to be used a lot, and for "Chasing Sunsets" we did this thing with the gold armor and the backdrop behind it, we wanted to do over the top on purpose, because then it falls away and it's like this nod of like 'this is all fake'. But if we went with that, people would see those photos without the context, and it's easy to get the wrong impression without context. The photos of "The Exorcism" on the other hand can stand even without that. I really love it, and I feel are maybe more authentic in a way.

Everyone cried, it was beautiful, so I wanted to capture a little bit of that

You already touched a little bit on it, but how did you come to decision to re-record "Soft Revolution"?

I'm pretty happy with how the song was, even though it's all programmed, I think it has a certain charm the way it was made. I try not to think with things that I made a long time ago, like how would I do them now, but this particular song was kind of my favorite song out of all of the songs from Tales and then we performed it live, and it such a new dimension... I just love the way the band performed it, I love the guitar solo that Timo did live, we did it at the end rather than in the middle, we did a whole thing where we looped the last vocals and then Timo got to play basically as long as he wanted to and everyone else would fuck off the stage, everyone cried, it was beautiful, so I wanted to capture a little bit of that. [Laughs]

For the last, obvious thing, your November tour with Vola is a big one...

It's a very big one! I cannot wait, it's my first big tour in a few years actually, it's kind of nerve-wrecking...

You know, last time we talked, when everything was slowly coming to the post-covid normal, I remember that you weren't very optimistic about the industry's state. Do you think any lessons were learned after that?

Oh no, not really. I think that's something... like, with the pandemic, we all weren't prepared but I'm not sure if we've learned from it. Maybe we're more capable to do things online, like the live streams and everything, find new ways to kind of contain ourselves if we're not able to perform live, but I'm not sure if we're really prepared for what may come next. I don't feel confident about that.

But you do feel confident about the upcoming dates!

Yeah, I do feel confident about those, I cannot wait!

Any chance for more announcements, a small headline run maybe?

Definitely not anytime too soon, unfortunately, but who knows, there might be festivals!

That'll work too! I won't be taking any more of your time, thank you so much, and hope to see you again soon!

[Doorbell rings] Well, perfect timing! Thank you for the interest, have a great rest of your day, I'm going to run to whoever this is!