Depth. An infinity loop of layers that unravel over time. In the case of Charlie Rolfe, the importance of depth has come to define both the art that she creates as frontwoman and lead vocalist of As Everything Unfolds and re-contextualise the art she holds dearest. “As I’ve got older, I’ve appreciated the depth of anything in my life,” she explains. “I can never accept something for how it is on the surface, I have to understand it.” Whether it’s the allegories and social commentary in Blade Runner, that desire for artistic depth flows through Charlie. “I love absorbing information,” she adds. “I think that information is one of the most powerful tools in the world, and it’s undervalued by a lot of people. The more you know, the more you can potentially set yourself free.” Which brings us to one thread of the concept behind ‘DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?’, the first album from the Buckinghamshire quartet since signing to Century Media Records.
Set free from who? What? That question characterises the fluidity of As Everything Unfolds’ third full-length, which grapples with the tightrope between a dream state and reality. Should you walk the tightrope and risk leaving your safe haven of fantasy? Whatever the choice, will you find ‘freedom’ at the end of the road? That labyrinth of questions shapes the crux of the record. Tragedy hit camp As Everything Unfolds in August 2024 when drummer Jamie Gowers, who was also Charlie’s boyfriend, passed away. Midway through writing this album, the quartet banded together to re-ignite the flames of As Everything Unfolds. “It’s going to be shit and it’s going to be horrible, but running away from it felt like the wrong thing to do,” recalls Charlie. “This is the hardest record we will ever have to do, how can we flip it into something we’re proud of, and give it the longevity and legacy it deserves?” Taking two years to give writing and pre-production the TLC it deserved, the album was recorded across three weeks in February 2025.
Despite initially feeling like a record of two halves, Charlie was never going to settle for anything other than a unified concept. It was when an old university mate recommended ‘The Creative Act’ by Rick Rubin that inspired the eureka moment for this record. “I really took the idea of subconscious, secondary-action writing,” she explains. “The stuff that comes out is tapping into a completely different part of your brain.” Leaning into her natural disposition as a multi-tasker, Charlie allowed ideas to flow into her daily life rather than carving out time to force them out. ‘GASOLINE’ came while she was making a cheese toastie. Sonically, ‘DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?’ propels As Everything Unfolds out of the metalcore box into a band who have found their own sound at the crossroads of genres. “I’ve definitely steered away from metalcore, and I think we all have,” says Charlie.
Given how self-centred and egotistical society has become, these musings led Charlie to think about the world’s obsession with other people’s lives. “I don’t want people to idolise me, put me on a pedestal and think that I am this person that just does no wrong, because that’s literally impossible as a human being.” Ultimately, ‘DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?’ is an alternate lens through which Charlie examines reality and the dichotomy between hiding and confronting it. As someone who experienced maladaptive daydreaming during the early days of her trauma, the tool and throughline was there for Charlie to tell her story. After a turbulent few years, there is a creative depth to ‘DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?’ that ensures it’s their strongest album to date. “It’s told its story, and I don’t feel like I need to take it any further,” she boldly declares. “It’s a capsule of that moment, of the things that happened to me, and I’m now in a new part of my life. That’s why drawing the line under it is important.”
