As Everything Unfolds are gearing up for the release of their highly-anticipated new album, DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE?, on April 10 via Century Media.
The release of new single "DENIAL."
"Denial is the hardest thing to watch someone go through," shares Charlie Rolfe. "You can say or do nothing that will make them realize the horrible situation they're in, you see small moments of clarity where they're screaming out for help but they fall back into denial. It's their closest friend, their comfort. I found it the hardest phase to watch someone in addiction recovery go through. Their disregard for your emotional and physical well-being, your feelings don't even come into their mind. No matter how much you try to sympathize and say that you understand the pain they’re going through, it's never enough to convince them that they're not alone and their own destructive misery feels like they find joy in inflicting pain upon others, they feel better spreading their pain rather than facing it."
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-contextualize the art she holds dearest.
"As I've gotten 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 just 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? The rigor of that question is what characterizes 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 – conscious or otherwise – will you find 'freedom' at the end of the road? That never-ending labyrinth of questions is what 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 a book called The Creative Act by Rick Rubin that inspired the eureka moment for this record.
Ultimately, DID YOU ASK TO BE SET FREE? is an alternate lens through which Charlie examines reality, and the never-ending dichotomy between hiding and confronting it. As someone who experienced a lot of 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."
