Ethel Cain, known mostly by her song “American Teenager,” released a new album on Jan. 8, called “Perverts,” with nine tracks that add up to a listening time of 90 minutes.
Cain has gained a bigger following with singers Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams, and shockingly, former president Barack Obama helping her become a name people know. She has released music since 2017 but did not make any albums or EPs until “Inbred” and “Preacher’s Daughter” in 2022. Those albums were indie folk rock, with the content being focused on Christian religion.
To understand where Cain comes from, she was raised with Southern Baptist beliefs, as her father was a deacon in the church, and she sang in the church choir growing up. She came out as gay to her family when she was 12 years old, and when she was 20, she publicly came out as trans.
This new album did not change the content of what we expect from Cain but rather the genre. This dark ambient album caught many off guard. Although Cain had expressed that this album would be different from what she had previously made and had teased this genre, fans that did not follow her closely had not known about the change, including me.
On the track list, the first song is called “Perverts.” It starts with her singing a Christian hymn, “Nearer, my God, to Thee,” making it sound like its coming from a record; truly, the best way to describe it is, it sounds like you are about to play a ROBLOX horror game. It helps to set the vibe for the rest of the album, where the theme is mainly self-hatred. Towards the end of the hymn, the singing becomes distorted and gradually changes to a faint ringing that crescendos slowly. While the sound grows, a distorted voice talks about self-gratification, and the song ends with the saying that Cain has used repeatedly, “It’s happening to everybody.”
The second track, “Punish,” was released on Nov. 11 as a single. It continues with the eerie sounds of a swing creaking, but it has a supporting piano with it, as well as more vocals than the rest of the songs. The vocals on this are insane, and it makes me love this song so much. Cain wrote this song from the point of view of a pedophile who was shot for his crimes and talks about how he never let the wounds heal as a reminder. I like to perceive the song as a metaphor, like your guilt will punish you if you wronged someone.
Next is the most unsettling song on the album, “Housofpsychoticwomn.” The background noise in this song is a buzzing, almost a ringing, with piano, while there are faint unnerving sounds that almost make you go insane, wondering whether they are really there or not. The lyrics are faint, and after almost every bar, is an ad lib of, “I love you.” I take it as the woman is so obsessed with the idea of love that it drove her psychotic. The song continues for five minutes, with “I love you” repeated with louder, unnerving sounds. Fun fact: “I love you” is said 122 times throughout the 13-minute song.
The fourth song, “Vacillator,” is a softer song, with a gentle drum rhythm and the vocals carrying the song, feeling like a love song. The meaning is quite in front of you; it is from the point of view of a vacillator, someone who is hesitant because of their fear. The lyrics are the vacillator confessing their love for someone. The idiom lyric, “Close the door, let me in,” changes the sound of the song, as the drum gets more distant, and eerie sounds come back like screaming, until the lyrics just repeat, “If you love me, keep it to yourself,” like the vacillator has changed their mind out of fear.
“Onanist” is the shortest song on the album, coming in at around six minutes, as the fifth song. The start of the song sounds like someone flicking through the radio, trying to find a working station, until the same buzzing stays, and a staticky piano starts to play. The song is about being at a crossroads of choosing God or of following lust. In the background, you can hear a singing like a siren that is luring the person who will choose the path of lust even when they believe they will be punished for it.
After the shortest song is the longest song, “Pulldrone,” the sixth song on the album. It is around 15 minutes, with more than half being a buzzing noise (I love it here!). The song is more of a poem that lists 12 things: apathy, disruption, curiosity, assimilation, aggrandization, delineation, perversion, resentment, separation, degradation, annihilation and desolation. After every word, she explains why she said it. I love this concept, and this song is my second favorite, with my favorite line out of the whole album being, “I am what I am, but we are not the same.” During the lyrics, the buzzing noise starts, but it is different, and it starts to grow louder when the lyrics stop. The best way to describe this buzzing, is it sounds exactly like the West Bend hot air corn popper that I grew up with, so it makes it feel nostalgic to me. Once you get more into the song, an out-of-tune violin starts and sounds almost like it is trying to tune but can’t.
The seventh song, “Etienne,” starts with piano for a while on the same chord progression until guitar gets added. “Etienne” is a straightforward story: a man decides that he wants to induce a heart attack by running very fast for a long time. He tries every day without success; he goes until he collapses out of exhaustion but never dies. Eventually, after a week, he felt so good that he did not want to die anymore. The lyrics are what sounds like a motivational speech. I think the instrumental and the lyrics go hand in hand; the lyrics do not start until 7:49, and the instrumental stops. The instrumental is the story of what the person felt about how his life was so bare until something made it worth living.
“Thatorchia,” the eighth song, is an ambiance piece. It starts with a whirring type of sound that gets louder and more distorted, then goes back down again for about two minutes until it fades into a white noise where you hear subtle singing; it’s an interlude from “Etienne” to “Amber Waves.”
The final song on the album is “Amber Waves.” Cain’s singing is beautiful, and it is a song you could just listen to casually. The song gives a sense of floating or euphoria, and the song hints at addiction, or more the numbness behind it.
Since many people did not expect this from Cain, there were many online articles and posts, calling the album weird. That then led people to gatekeep the artist, almost as if, if you do not enjoy the album, others should not be listening to Cain. I do not blame people for not liking the album. It is not something you casually turn on in the car to listen to; if you want that, I would suggest my favorite by Cain, called “Crush.” And with that, I do not think you are not a fan of Cain’s if you do not like or listen to the new album. The phenomenon of gatekeeping music artists is very predominant, as I do not call myself a fan of a music artist until I have listened to their entire discography because I am afraid of being called a fake fan when you can just casually listen to a person.
I would best describe this album as modern art; many do not understand it because you have to find the reason behind it. If you are interested in listening to the album, I would suggest listening to it in the dark, preferably in the middle of nowhere because… it’s happening to everybody.
26kfischer@usd489.com
