I think it's time for an ETHEL CAIN thread

I was a big fan of last year's Inbred EP, and especially its singles ("Crush" and "Michelle Pfeiffer"). The pre-release singles from her upcoming debut (out 5/12) are also really good. I love her sound and vibe, the combination of dream-pop reverb and anthemic instincts.

She has quite the backstory too (short version, she's a trans PK from backwoods Florida who grew up singing in church), and a dedicated troupe of online disciples, which makes her interesting but the music is the main selling point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKnFBRMzRas

Here's "Crush" for anyone who missed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu-t3tqDyAY

so glad you made the thread, tipsy -- EC has been Major for me since discovering the EP last year.

here's another video for a track off the EP called "God's Country" (which is my favorite of hers):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV3V_4NcUu8

and here are a couple more singles off the upcoming full-length which is called <i>Preacher's Daughter</i>: the closing track "Strangers" and "Gibson Girl":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJArb5Tg1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRQOlWKcxYs

Yes, a discovery last year for me as well and agreed on all these points -- just wish the newer work was available on Bandcamp. "Michelle Pfeiffer" kinda melted my mind when I first heard it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geclsIbWqoA

"michelle pfeiffer" is on another level from the rest of what i've heard from her, but she's definitely someone to keep an eye on.

I love "Michelle Pfeiffer," tho I could do without the Lil Aaron verse.

Bought tickets to see her in July, I'm betting she puts on a good show.

I was about to either start this thread or revive another vaguely appropriate one. I feel like she's getting better? Like, "Michelle Pfeiffer" and "Crush" are great, but the run this year - the "Everytime" cover, "Gibson Girl", "Strangers" and now "American Teenager" - is just like bam bam bam bam. Not necessarily stronger material per se, but it feels more confident, more connected to its own value, more embodied with a sense of the artist's distinct personality. Relatedly, I like that she is sharpening her commercial instincts, especially with "American Dream" which from the title on down is very calculated but in a way that totally works for me (the Journey-esque guitar solo is A+). Though I think "Strangers" is perhaps the best of them: I love how it's unclear whether the overtones of violence are metaphorical or literal - is she singing about a past obsessive relationship she has moved on from, or is she a ghost haunting the lover who murdered her?

lol *"American Teenager"

She deserves her own thread, of course, and assuming all trans rockers sound the same/are the same is dumb and limiting, but Mel Stone, who I've been following since an appearance on a podcast to talk about Velvet Goldmine some years back, is also a choice listen, and in ways there is a connection to Cain's work because they both find differing/distinct ways to make the hoary burnout dullness of whatever classic rock as such was sound better again. One of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8P1DJCG58c

Tour dates:

07/14/22 — Bloomington, IN — The Bishop

07/15/22 — Chicago, IL — Pitchfork Festival

07/18/22 — Detroit, MI — El Club

07/19/22 — Toronto, ON — Horseshoe

07/20/22 — Montreal, QC — Le Ritz PDB

07/22/22 — Boston, MA — Brighton Music Hall

07/23/22 — Philadelphia, PA — Johnny Brendas

07/24/22 — Washington, DC — Union Stage

07/27/22 — Richmond, VA — Richmond Music Hall

07/28/22 — Asheville, NC — The Grey Eagle

07/30/22 — Gainesville, FL — High Dive

07/31/22 — Tallahassee, FL — 926 Bar

08/5/22 — Denver, CO — Vortex Fest

08/20/22 — Seattle, WA — Neumos

08/21/22 — Vancouver, BC — Wise Hall

08/22/22 — Portland, OR — Mississippi Studios

08/2522 — San Francisco — The Independent

08/27/22 — Los Angeles, CA — This Ain’t No Picnic

08/28/22 — San Diego, CA — Humphrey’s (Here & There)

08/30/22 — Phoenix, AZ — Valley Bar

09/1/22 — Austin, TX — ACL Live @ Moody Theatre (Here & There)

09/2/22 — Dallas, TX — Ruins

09/6/22 — Atlanta, GA — The Earl

09/7/22 — Nashville, TN — Basement East

09/9/22 — NYC — Bowery Ballroom

NYT profile https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/11/arts/music/ethel-cain-preachers-daughter.html

At the same time, Cain has no manager and no interest in forcing a hit on TikTok or Spotify. The dreamy, longing songs on “Preacher’s Daughter” — largely written, recorded and produced alone in her bedroom — may be soaring in sound and intention, but they are deliberately slow, hazy and dense, often stretching past the six-minute mark before exploding into an out-of-fashion guitar solo or spooky instrumental passage.

Cain also insists on living in the middle of nowhere, the better to drive her truck around barefoot and hang out in empty fields and graveyards or under dilapidated bridges. Before rural Alabama, she rented an abandoned church in a random Indiana town of fewer than 2,000 people.

In her slight Southern lilt, Cain expressed nothing but shellshocked disdain for cities like New York and Los Angeles, where most in her enviable position end up.

Disappointed to learn she's signed to Dr. Luke's company tbh

Yeah that's not great.

Overall good article though.

I'm on my 2nd time thru the album, I like it. Some songs I love, some that are more about vibe than tune, but overall the ambition of the thing is pretty impressive. Several songs past 7 minutes, one past 9, less of a pop sensibility than last year's singles but a real sense of almost cinematic scope. It sounds gorgeous, of course.

Great guitar playing and production too. There are sections that sound like Crazy Horse, others that sound like metal.

London tickets went on sale today and we’re gone immediately but she’s added an extra date for December 7th.

*were

Seeing her next week, psyched.

saw her earlier this week, great show though her voice live is a bit thinner than i expected from the record but still yeah, a fun time (considering her whole thing)

Show tonight was great, she sounded terrific and the rapport with the crowd was warm and friendly. She didn't do "Gibson Girl" or "Michelle Pfeiffer," which surprised me, but it was a strong set. And she has serious star power and presence.

Also the crowd (this was Asheville) was a nice slice of queer-friendly Appalachia. Totally heartwarming to see a high-school age trans girl there in a full bridal gown, accompanied by her frumpy middle-aged parents.

thoroughfare is one of my fav songs this year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XocCIxoeilo

finally listened to this and surprised by how much it's taylor swift with a ton of reverb (not that that's a bad thing)

but how on earth did she get that voice! what the hell

She sounded great love too fwiw. Obviously her voice on the album benefits from tons of reverb, but it is no small instrument.

Live, not love

She's playing an outdoor show in downtown Portland tonight, sold out and I saw maybe 100-150 people lined up a few hours in advance to get in.

Yeah that sounds right. Still annoyed I missed out seeing her perform at the Castro the other year.

major tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvMmTsZVLo

love how uncompromising she is for her level of C-level fame but at the same time, not sure I wanted an entire album of samey slow core dirges from her

9 songs, 89 minutes, sheesh

On paper that seems perfect. But how will it sound?

I know not everyone like Steven Hyden, but I thought he had some interesting thoughts on it and, re: how it sounds:

The canon “fame freakout” album that most resembles Perverts is Bon Iver’s 22, A Million, even if it is only a third as long. Like Cain, Justin Vernon became indie-famous by playing beautiful, deconstructed heartland rock songs, and then he reacted to that fame by taking an ugly sonic razorblade to all those pretty soundscapes. Though Cain goes several steps further on Perverts. The 12-minute title track sets a distorted voice that sounds lifted from a decrepit 1980s-era answering machine against foreboding atmospheric clanking that might as well have been serendipitously recorded at an abandoned tire factory. Finally, at around the 11-minute mark, a somewhat melodic synth line floats in, a small reward for those that hung in for the preceding 660 seconds.

Much of Perverts unfolds (or doesn’t unfold) in similar fashion. The most song-like tracks feel more like interstitial instrumentals borrowed from a relatively normal goth record, like the self-explanatory “Punish” or the Cure-like “Etienne.” Of the four (!) songs that push beyond the 10-minute mark, the 13-minute “Houseofpsychoticwomn” is the most effective, with Cain repeating “I love you,” mantra-like, over a chop-block beat and droning keyboard. That might not sound like much on paper, but the piece has a wandering, creeping pull that’s reminiscent of the “quiet” halves of David Bowie’s Low and Animal Collective’s Feels.

The review sounds like it's coming from someone who had to review it rather than, say, take it for a drive or lay in bed with it. (Haven't heard the album yet.)

Huh. Well, I'll listen. Count me among those who prefer her more conventional songcraft, but I respect her insistence on being whoever she wants to be. She can do a lot of different things, maybe the next album will be pop.

Yeah this album is great. "Vacillator" might be my favorite, but I like the long moody/drone/noise sections too.

Yeah love it. It's terrifying in places but really good. Like if Grouper was possessed?

Felt like the right vibe for this January.

It is legitimately unnerving sometimes, existential dread stuff, but also really beautiful.