February 26, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Written by: Kiera Roedel | Copy Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content warning<\/strong>: This article contains mentions of religious trauma, depression, suicide, murder, alcoholism, drug addiction, abusive relationships, domestic violence, police violence, child sexual abuse, prostitution, kidnapping and cannibalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ethel Cain is the name of Hayden Anhed\u00f6nia\u2019s solo music project. Her music focuses around themes of depression, trauma, Americana and religion, and her voice and musical styling are not dissimilar to the work of Lana Del Rey from the late 2010s. Cain\u2019s 2022 record \u201cPreacher\u2019s Daughter\u201d is a partially autobiographical concept album. It tells the life story of a preacher\u2019s daughter, including stories about her childhood in the American South, adulthood, death and afterlife. The raw emotion on display is accentuated by gaunt instrumentation and especially by Cain\u2019s exquisite vocals, which can convey more pain than a motivational speech even when not using a single actual word. The lyrics evoke some cruel cross between true crime and Gothic horror, gray and dismal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFamily Tree (Intro)\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Cain discusses in no uncertain terms how her character \u2014 the preacher\u2019s daughter \u2014 was doomed from the start by her heritage. She portrays the allegorical concept of a \u201cfamily tree\u201d as a literal tree, one from which Cain is \u201cswinging by (her) neck,\u201d and compares her own family to that of Christ. Throbbing percussion combined with Cain\u2019s slurring vocals make this an engaging listen and a fantastic opening track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmerican Teenager\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 It is here that the story of the preacher\u2019s daughter begins. \u201cAmerican Teenager\u201d is the album\u2019s third single and its most radio-friendly song, with structured lyrics and some addictive synths. Cain discusses her character\u2019s isolation in the rural American South, condemning the nationalistic, Christian, individualist culture that pulses through those environments. To cope, the preacher\u2019s daughter turns to liquor and religion, the latter being something from which she tries and fails to escape throughout the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA House in Nebraska\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Here the preacher\u2019s daughter experiences one of her few content moments in life, describing her time spent loving a man who eventually abandons her. Seven minutes long, even this reminiscence is not soaked in joy; ambient-adjacent vocals, strong percussion and soulful guitar accentuate the melancholy. Cain describes a dirty mattress, bed sores, dirt roads \u2014 the epitome of \u201calone together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWestern Nights\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 After being shunned by the man in the house in Nebraska, the preacher\u2019s daughter turns to another lover, this one abusive and violent. Despite his faults, she describes her unbreaking love for and codependence on him. Cain sings like she just finished crying her eyes out, over thundering piano chords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFamily Tree\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cFamily Tree\u201d is the only song on the album where the story felt obfuscated. Its lyrics describe a wedding, baptism and threats of violence, but apparently are intended to be about running from the police after the man from \u201cWestern Nights\u201d is killed during an armed robbery. Plus, the song isn\u2019t really related to the intro track that shares its name. The guitar solo, however, is sensational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHard Times\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Over some subtle piano and drums, Cain describes the preacher\u2019s daughter\u2019s history of being sexually abused by her father \u2014 the preacher \u2014 when she was \u201ctoo young \/ to notice \/ that some types of love could be bad.\u201d The events described in the song are not directly autobiographical, but that doesn\u2019t make them any less horrific. Absolutely devastating, and perfectly executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThoroughfare\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cThoroughfare\u201d is a ten-minute epic about the preacher\u2019s daughter running away from home, when she encounters a strange man named Isaiah who promises to take her to California in his truck. On the ensuing long road trip, she slowly falls in love with him, and he with her. However, later lyrics and some lore posted online by Cain indicate that Isaiah actually kidnapped the preacher\u2019s daughter, rather than her going with him consensually. The song starts acoustically, complete with harmonica, but builds to an electric guitar solo before falling away once again, and it is stunning from start to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGibson Girl\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Taking its name from a drawing that was once considered to depict the pinnacle of American beauty standards, \u201cGibson Girl\u201d describes the preacher\u2019s daughter\u2019s work in California as a prostitute and her simultaneous development of a drug addiction. Isaiah encourages her the whole way through, saying \u201cif it feels good \/ then it can’t be bad.\u201d This was the album\u2019s first single, and is well-deserving of it; I\u2019m especially in love with the drums through the choruses and the outro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPtolemaea\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 A million words could describe this song \u2014 shoegaze, terror, demonic, chilling \u2014 but not even all one million would be enough to honor it. Beginning with an echoing masculine chant, Cain\u2019s voice cuts in like that of an angel. She sings of her fear of Isaiah while he has a psychotic breakdown of some kind. The climax of the song, and really of the album, comes when Cain begins to repeat the word \u201cstop\u201d with building intensity, the final one a bloodcurdling shriek as Isaiah dismembers her. This isn\u2019t one I would ever choose to listen to individually, but as the peak of \u201cPreacher\u2019s Daughter\u201d it is transcendent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAugust Underground\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 While \u201cAugust Underground\u201d lacks lyrics, Cain\u2019s wordless vocals take a prominent role. If death itself had a soundtrack, this would be it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTelevangelism\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 Also an instrumental, \u201cTelevangelism\u201d is much brighter and less terrifying than either of the preceding two songs. Predominantly piano, it depicts the preacher\u2019s daughter\u2019s ascent into heaven, and is beautiful to match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSun Bleached Flies\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 From heaven, Cain reflects on her life and its few bright spots. In a particularly powerful bridge, she describes what I interpret as meeting God, and she realizes that she misses being alive, especially the man in the house in Nebraska. With driven but digestible instrumentation, \u201cSun Bleached Flies\u201d is nothing short of cathartic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStrangers\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 The closer of \u201cPreacher\u2019s Daughter\u201d is also its second single. \u201cStrangers\u201d shows the preacher\u2019s daughter in heaven, watching Isaiah cannibalize her body, and wishing she never fell in love with him. The outro is the most touching thing here \u2014 the preacher\u2019s daughter speaks directly to her mother over acoustic guitar, telling her she doesn\u2019t blame her for what happened. Especially interesting is the fact that no woman characters had been previously mentioned except the preacher\u2019s daughter herself. \u201cStrangers\u201d is an excellent closer, bringing together the highlights of the album\u2019s musical style into a cohesive whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strengths of \u201cPreacher\u2019s Daughter\u201d rest primarily in the story it tells and the soundscape it creates \u2014 less like music and more like the listener is just floating around inside Cain\u2019s head throughout the course of these events. This isn\u2019t a flawless record, but in some ways that just makes it more perfect. Absolutely worth a listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contact the author at howlcopyeditor@wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 26, 2025 Written by: Kiera Roedel | Copy Editor Content warning: This article contains mentions of religious trauma, depression, suicide, murder, alcoholism, drug addiction, abusive relationships, domestic violence, police violence, child sexual abuse, prostitution, kidnapping and cannibalism. Ethel Cain is the name of Hayden Anhed\u00f6nia\u2019s solo music project. Her music focuses around themes of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6108,2313,6107,6098,6091,6104,5311,4316,6100,5358,6121,6094,6095,6128,6096,4290,4690,4143,1819,6105,6120,5694,6102,59,6116,4693,6099,6114,6111,6097,6124,6092,6118,2984,6101,1754,4289,2094,54,6103,6106,4675,5689,6119,6123,2055,4172,3813,6117,6126,6127,4684,6125,6112,6110,6122,6115,6093,1807,5397,3156,6109,6090,6113],"class_list":["post-22348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-a-house-in-nebraska","tag-abuse","tag-abusive-relationships","tag-afterlife","tag-album","tag-alcoholism","tag-america","tag-american-south","tag-american-teenager","tag-americana","tag-august-underground","tag-autobiography","tag-bible-belt","tag-cannibalism","tag-childhood","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-death","tag-depression","tag-drinking","tag-drug-addiction","tag-ethel-cain","tag-execution","tag-family","tag-gibson-girl","tag-guitar","tag-hanging","tag-hard-times","tag-harmonica","tag-hayden-anhedonia","tag-heaven","tag-individualism","tag-kidnapping","tag-lana-del-rey","tag-liquor","tag-love","tag-lyrics","tag-mother","tag-music","tag-nationalism","tag-nebraska","tag-piano","tag-preachers-daughter","tag-prostitution","tag-ptolemaea","tag-radio","tag-record","tag-religion","tag-shoegaze","tag-soundscape","tag-strangers","tag-suicide","tag-sun-bleached-flies","tag-synthesizers","tag-synths","tag-televangelism","tag-thoroughfare","tag-trauma","tag-tree","tag-united-states","tag-violence","tag-violent","tag-vocals","tag-western-nights"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22351,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22348\/revisions\/22351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}