Ethel Cain is arguably one of the most important up and coming artists in the music industry. Her unique religious/American southern gothic sound is a refreshing addition to the redundant static of modern pop, country and alternative music.
But first, let me blow your mind really quick…
Ethel Cain does not exist.
No, I am not making this up.
Ethel Cain is the brainchild of Hayden Silas Anhedönia. While much of Cain’s story is based on Anhedönia’s actual life, she is a fictional character representing the “casualty” of being an “All-American girl.”
During a particularly rough patch of Anhedönia’s life, she experienced a vision of a woman- Ethel Cain.
In an interview with The Line of Best Fit, she describes Ethel Cain as a “living, breathing girl”; as an experience. She describes Cain as wearing “virginal white…the flounces of her gown being tickled by the vast planes of wheat.”
She’s a lover who has been left behind and a daughter, still here with her family.
Hayden Silas Anhedönia on Ethel Cain
Hayden Anhedönia’s album, Preacher’s Daughter, released under Ethel Cain and set in 1991, details the life and death of Ethel Cain and each tragedy and love she endures.
I don’t think of these thirteen songs as an album, rather as an experience, because it isn’t just music.
It is a life, the birth and death of an entire person. The heartbreaking and intense lyrics of this album make it that much more real.
Give Preacher’s Daughter a listen and you won’t just hear the words, you will feel them.
Each song tells a different story and details a specific moment in Ethel Cain’s life. Here is everything you need to know about the lore behind each song.
Family Tree (intro)
This dark song begins with a sample of a sermon, setting the stage for the entire album and for Ethel Cain and her complex relationship with her father and religion.
In the song, Cain compares herself to Jesus Christ and says that she can never escape her family ties. The lyrics portray a vision of Cain hanging from her family tree, symbolizing that she will never be free from the circumstances she was born into and cannot change.
The song alludes to the lack of acceptance Cain feels from her family and town, an experience Anhedönia also lived through.
This song also addresses Ethel Cain’s fear of not being able to live up to her father’s impact after being left to fulfill his religious duties.
He’ll never escape what he’s made up of.
“Family Tree (Intro)” by Ethel Cain
American Teenager
A stark contrast to “Family Tree (Intro)” and many other songs on the album, “American Teenger” is an upbeat, fast, and feel-good song… until you listen to the lyrics.
This song immediately dives into Ethel Cain’s criticism of the “American Dream” and how Americans are pressured to achieve impossible goals.
She speaks of victims of patriotism, including her next-door neighbor’s brother, singing, “The neighbor’s brother came home in a box/But he wanted to go so maybe it was his fault/Another red heart taken by the American dream.”
Jesus, if you’re listening, let me handle my liquor. And Jesus, if you’re there, why do I feel alone in this room with you?
“American Teenager” by Ethel Cain
The song goes on to describe Cain drunk leading her church in worship. The lyrics suggest that both Cain and Anhedönia have struggled with substance abuse and addiction.
“American Teenager” is also an opportunity for Cain to address her own confusing relationship with religion, a consistent theme throughout the album. Cain begins to doubt her faith, especially after the death of her father.
Even in the most holy place she knows, Ethel Cain doesn’t feel Jesus anymore.
If you need more motivation to listen to this song, President Barack Obama featured this song in a post titled “Barack Obama’s Favorite Music of 2022.” It is also a favorite of my dad’s!
A House in Nebraska
And I still call home that house in Nebraska, where we found each other on a dirty mattress on the second floor.
“A House in Nebraska” by Ethel Cain
Not only is this one of my favorites, but it has won over my best friend, Fiona, too.
In this song, the listener meets Ethel Cain’s old flame, Willoughby Tucker, who left their small town in Alabama before any of the events in the album take place.
Not only is Tucker a love interest, but also one of Cain’s closest allies.
It is a song of hope that her love might return to her and marks the beginning of her downfall.
Ethel Cain speaks of finding love with him on a dirty mattress on the second floor of an abandoned house near the edge of their town. She still dreams of the life they might have built together in that house, but if the house existed in Nebraska.
The lyrics almost beg him to come back, but she knows he won’t ever return.
Western Nights
The listener is returned to real time in this song and is introduced to Logan Phelps, Ethel Cain’s current boyfriend.
He is a violent, abusive, criminal and Cain spends the entire song trying to convince herself that she is in love with him anyways.
In this song, Cain suggests that he does actually care for her, but just shows his love in a twisted, dark way.
Trouble’s always gonna find you, baby, but so will I.
“Western Nights” by Ethel Cain
This song shows just how naive Ethel Cain is, likely as a result of her strained relationship with her father.
Family tree
In this disturbing continuation of “Family Tree (Intro),” Ethel Cain details the death of her boyfriend, Logan Phelps, during a bank robbery. Cain escapes, but she is seen by police, marking the beginning of her time on the run.
They say Heaven hath no fury like a woman scorned, and, baby, hell don’t scare me, I’ve been times before.
“Family Tree” by Ethel Cain
While this song is more focused on Ethel Cain being forced to flee from everything she knows, it symbolizes that she is also free from the sins of her family and for the first time, she is in control of her life.
Hard Times
In this stunning melody, Ethel Cain sings of the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her father.
She speaks of how she was forced to grow into a woman at the age of nine and how she wishes that her father could have been good so she could love him, but what he did to her was unforgivable.
Even though she is technically free from her family and her town, she will be tied to her trauma no matter where she goes forever.
I was too young to notice that some types of love could be bad.
“Hard Times” by Ethel Cain
Thoroughfare
This is the most perfect song I have ever heard in my life. It is an incredible love song and a beautiful story of love found.
The song describes a new love interest, Isaiah, on his inspired journey to find love in California.
While running from home, Ethel Cain gets off of a train in Texas and is stopped by Isaiah who offers to take her anywhere. Cain doesn’t trust him at first, but knows a ride is better than walking, and so they begin their journey out West.
They slowly fall in love as they travel the country and she is enamored with his seemingly peaceful demeanor.
And you said,
‘Hey, do you wanna see the West with me?’
“Thoroughfare” by Ethel Cain
Gibson Girl
This is another favorite despite its tragic lyrics.
In this song, we meet a different, more real Isaiah. The listener finds out that Ethel Cain is now a sex-worker pimped out by Isaiah, who has grown incredibly violent and abusive towards her.
She seems to be under the influence of drugs throughout the entire song, evident by the hazy, overlapping lyrics.
Obsession with the money, addicted to the drugs,
“Gibson Girl” by Ethel Cain
says he’s in love with my body…
This song is about Cain being tired of men wanting her for her body and how she tries to convince herself she is in control even when being used and objectified by men.
While these details aren’t expressed in the lyrics, Anhedönia has said that at the end of the song, Ethel Cain is knocked unconscious by Isaiah and kidnapped, sealing her fate.
Ptolemaea
I personally dislike this song because it is really uncomfortable to listen to, but the artistic flair of this song is undeniable.
The listener sees Cain trapped in a sort of hell after being kidnapped and betrayed by Isaiah. She is trapped in the attic of Isaiah’s in his house in California under the influence of psychedelics.
In this most tragic and iconic line in the song, she begs Isaiah to stop hurting her, only to be cut off by something rendering her unconscious. This is significant, as the listener observers Cain’s voice being interrupted throughout her entire life, and even in death, she is interrupted.
In the song, Death comes for her and explains that she was never going to escape her fate.
Blessed be the Daughters of Cain, bound to suffering eternal through the sins of their fathers committed long before their conception.
“Ptolemaea” by Ethel Cain
August Underground
In this haunting, slow instrumental, Ethel Cain is rotting away in Isaiah’s attic in California after her brutal murder.
This song is named after “August Underground’s Penance,” a fake snuff film Anhedönia watched in high school.
Televangelism
This beautiful instrumental signifies Ethel Cain’s ascension to Heaven.
Sun Bleached Flies
If you know and love me, you have heard “Sun Bleached Flies.” It is my absolute favorite song of all time and the most extraordinary and beautiful song I have ever heard.
In this song, Cain is in Heaven reflecting on her short and tragic life. She forgives everyone who has wronged her, including her mother and her church community. She sings of missing church and references mass in her hometown.
In the song, Anhedönia writes of a common phrase used by the Catholic church, “God loves you,” and how she was constantly reminded of this, usually with a demeaning insult at the end, like “God loves you, but,…”
Cain addresses her disturbing experiences, saying that she knew no one was ever going to save her, but still hoped for God and a rescuer.
God loves you, but not enough to save you.
“Sun Bleached Flies” by Ethel Cain
Strangers
In this stunning final song, the album is tied together as Ethel Cain views her body from Heaven.
She sees herself in a freezer where Isaiah has put her to cannibalize her.
Despite this heinous and disturbing act, Cain hints at still loving him.
Mama, just know that I love you and I’ll see you when you get here.
“Strangers” by Ethel Cain
She also says that she tried to be what God and her family wanted, and she looks down on her mother from Heaven to reassure her that she misses and loves her.
This album is a complex journey through Ethel Cain and a reflection on Anhedönia’s own experience with religion, love, and growth as a transgender woman in the deep South.
The hauntingly beautiful lyrics and enchanting music make the album so much more meaningful than anything else in the world of music right now.
Do yourself a favor and listen to this album.