Album Review: Ethel Cain – Perverts
Review by Jaya Kohol
Hayden Anhedonia, or Ethel Cain as most know her, has returned to the limelight with the release of a new project titled “Perverts.” Since her last album release, “Preacher’s Daughter” in 2022, Cain has undergone a metamorphosis of sorts. Over the past several years, Cain’s work has entered the alternative mainstream and has quickly become one of the most prominent names in alternative pop, especially in circles on Twitter and Tumblr. Cain sets herself apart with her distinctive southern gothic imagery and the experimental nature of her music. As Cain teased the new album during the latter half of 2024, fans speculated that she was making a major sonic shift in her work, and was aiming to break out of the alternative pop label she had been given as of recent. “Perverts” marks a significant turning point in Cain’s career as she dives headfirst into the deep-end of experimental ambient music.
The album opens with the title track “Perverts.” Instantly, Cain begins the song with haunting vocals, twisted and distorted under the haze of static background noise. Listeners are plunged into an ocean of expansive white noise, a fuzzy, buzzing noise that seems to creep up spines with unease. The buzzing noise grows to mingle with the hum of alarm-like sounds, as if signaling some foreboding warning to listeners. Cain’s comforting ethereal voice emerges on the second track “Punish” as she sings of the weight of love and struggle. The whine of the guitar in the final two minutes is reminiscent of “Preacher’s Daughter” tracks such as “A House in Nebraska” or her most popular song “Strangers,” the concluding track from the album.
The reverberating drone and oscillating noise of the album grows stronger on tracks such as “Housofpsychoticwomn.” The vocals are layered underneath towering walls of sound that stagger over listeners, dominating and terrorizing abiding ears. Cain evokes a suffocating horror with the cyclical nature of the synth noises, creating a whirlpool like effect, mesmerizing but deadly. Her voice remains hypnotic, repeating the phrase “I love you” over and over, strangling the concluding moments of the song.
“Vacillator” and “Etienne” highlight some of the more melodic points on the album. Cain focuses on cultivating an air of intimacy, a reflection of the sexually charged and violent lyrical content. Cain hasn’t shied away from exploring darker themes in her past work, so much so “Preacher’s Daughter” explored a storyline of a girl abducted and falling to cannibalism. On her Instagram, Cain revealed her new work took inspiration from the abandoned nuclear power plants of the midwest and rust belt, images that elicit empty expanses of land littered with imposing man made monuments. As the album title suggests, “Perverts” also explores more subversive sexual themes on tracks such as “Onanist” as well as Cain pulling influence from the literary works of Baudrillard and Foucault, especially the analytical works focusing on the concept of the panopticon.
“Pulldrone” reflects Cain’s faithfulness to her southern gothic roots. The buzzing noise on the 15 minute long track drags on almost incessantly, the noise invoking imagery of flies swarming over carcasses in the heat of the deep south, or the terror of vultures circling overhead, ready at any moment to plunge their beaks into rotting flesh. Cain is a master at soundscape world building, developing the threads of a storyline which travel from track to track, pulling listeners along with it. The album concludes on a somber note, Cain’s homage to the gospel she grew up with in her childhood. On “Amber Waves” Cain sings of addiction and catatonia, a physical stupor that turns the body statuesque. Her voice echoes through the song, whisper-like and transcendental, over the muffled sound of electric guitar, invoking an air of depression unlike any other track on the album.
This album may not be for the fans of “Preacher’s Daughter” but devoted Ethel Cain listeners will find a plethora of references to comb through and dissect throughout the album. The tale as a whole has yet to be revealed. I highly recommend taking the time to listen, uninterrupted with your undivided attention to the masterpiece of ambient noise which Cain has managed to produce. Through this work, it is clear that Cain has truly broken out of her alternative pop label, and transformed into something beyond comprehension, a true metamorphosis into the unknown.