Ethel Cain - Preacher's Daughter - Album Review (+ A Quick Channel Update!)

[@mothercain]

thank you so much for the thoughtful review, i very much appreciate it ♡

[@AustinAshburn]

queen

[@mummydearest]

omg eethel

[@Hey_Jamie]

I love when she shows up in comments

[@rileylove37]

Heyyy love the album

[@sleepdeprivedpikachu7235]

*proceeds to die* madame you are amazing please know that your music hit me like a truck and I doubt I will ever recover

[@thecosmicblueautie]

Okay, Spectrum Pulse with the appropriately seedy lighting!

[@lyzetteg]

This is such a special album. It really blew me away and I hope more people check it out.

[@emmao7844]

this is one of the best albums i’ve ever heard it’s so heartbreaking :( plus the full circle moment at the end of sun bleached flies is so perfect

[@michaellevandowski631]

I was wondering when you'd cover this album and I'm so glad you did. It's truly a masterpiece; I love the unique sonic pallet spanning psychedelic rock, southern rock and even hints of drone. The story is honestly so emotionally potent, viscerally dark and simultaneously romantic. It feels like the twisted, gothic love child of Phoebe Bridgers and Lingua Ignota and I absoulety adore it. Top 10 AOTY for me Also regarding the comparisons to Lana, I honestly think they're unfair, mostly because they have completely different goals when it comes to their art. And this is coming from someone who really likes both Lana and Ethel

[@alexddragame]

I haven't heard this album yet, I saw it high on RYM, but after seeing slowcore in genres I was like "ehhhhhhhhh, I dunno if I be interested in that". Am I interested now tho? You betcha! EDIT- Ok now I listened to it. Stellar album, can imagine it being high on my AOTY list if not topping it

[@lenbright9]

Excellent review Mark. This was one of my most anticipated album teleases in May largely due to the strength of early singles, "Strangers" and "American Teenager " These tracks were marvels of vocal work and production and I was psyched to hear the rest of the album. Man, she did not disappoint. This album is moving, tragic and indeed, filled with melodrama, but never depressing. Cain has such a strong grasp of tone that even when she is digging into the deepest recesses of personal horror, like on "Hard Times" and "A House in Nebraska" there is always a hint of growth and rebirth. She refuses to be defined by these experiences and that allows the record to never feel as though it's repetitively wallowing in dispair. Preacher's Daughter sounds like ot could also have been made in the 70s, where heartfelt, confessional writing was paired with multilayered instrumentation and a narrative throughline. They really "don't make them like this anymore."

[@squareroot9423]

I don't think I have ever cried for three songs in a row like this album made me (and if you need there where, yeah, it was in Ptolemaea followed by the two instrumental pieces.)

[@lawrencemckay94]

This right here is why Mark is the best music reviewer on KZbin.

[@upsetstudios1819]

I'm late to the party, but I've been listening to several Ethel songs for months now, without realizing they're about cannibalism. I finally actually listened to the album last night and now I'm just trying to piece my brain back together with videos like these

[@TalkingMusicAllDay]

This album is really something special across the board. Songwriting is impeccable, the vocal arrangements are stunning, the blurring of genres pans out way better than you would expect, and shockingly, the album effectively justifies the 75-minute runtime. Not one I can go back to all the time, given the length and how disturbing and intense the subject matter is, but when I do, HOLY SHIT I am floored every goddamn time. This and Orville Peck's "Bronco" are in stiff AOTY potential for me in 2022, and Ethel has such a bright future ahead of her that I'm really excited to see. Oh, and "Ptolemaea" absolutely scared the hell out of me. Not even Lingua Ignota could make me feel that uncomfortable for 6 minutes. That fucking says something.

[@EYTPS]

Ya know, M. Night Shyamalan should adapt this into a movie musical. He would love the twist ending of a seemingly nice guy being a bad guy.

[@SpectrumPulse]

The funny thing was that I was THIS close to making a "Promising Young Woman" reference.

[@Hey_Jamie]

In what world is a seemingly nice guy being a bad guy in any way considered a twist…?! That’s literally the most bland, overused “twist” there’s ever been

[@McSquawk]

This album is an instant classic. Preacher's Daughter is going to be tough to beat for my #1 album of 2022. And thank you for calling out that Pitchfork review. Just shows how much credibility they've lost over the last 10 years.

[@GIBKEL]

I never got those Pitchfork critics. Always went away with less of an idea than what instinct would tell me.

[@Sapphire.solstice]

Great review! Love this album

[@vanessabutera4385]

YAASSS my favourite music critic reviewing my AOTY!

[@ericgeneric135]

Thanks for such a detailed, thoughtful review!

[@Arbitraryvoices]

Amazing review of a really special album!! Very excited to see what she does next.

[@ineedacigarette1688]

Im glad that i knew her since 2018 and I can see this big progress

[@intelligencecycle3523]

Ethel Cain heard about her throughout the Inbred EP couldn’t have seen an absolute gem awaiting to have an upcoming rise into the mainstream. The production arrangements may feel a bit rough around the edges, ragged & off putting but the more listens in the in-depth and introspective she can ultimately get. On Preacher daughter not only she double down on the vocal presence but the storytelling is immaculate with vivid imagery on visceral sex life, brutal abuse of women, personal trauma from her point of view intersecting generational trauma and religion at its crux. Hard times was a phenomenal gravitating gut wrenching listening experience American teenager gave me A mirror image of Journey don’t stop believing as soon as I heard it. My more standouts is Acoustic texture layered production on Thoroughfare, Sunbleached flies & family tree. Overall a breathtakingly exhilarating listen glad I took the time to sit through to share my thoughts on probably the best dream pop dream country album In such a longtime.

[@riddypr]

The review certainly has me interested in the album; I'll be sure to give it a listen before the midyear. It'll also be interesting to see how the YT Shorts videos will turn out. Hopefully that goes well.

[@TheRareVideosXL]

Good video.

[@sleepdeprivedpikachu7235]

I finally got around to listening to this album and I doubt that I will ever recover from just how bleak and beautiful that it is. I never thought I needed folk and country fused with Americana and blues rock, but yes I did. Her delivery kind of reminds me of Rihanna at her most restrained, with hints of Lorde’s huskiness and phoebe bridgers’s restraint. The writing is graphic and the framing is so good it’s scary. It’s absolutely one of the best albums of 2022, and I can’t wait for the follow up.

[@Metazoa54321]

y'know, i have been hearing whispers about this album, but knowing it's going in -those- places? guess there needs to be time made

[@enndromeda]

Such a sad and beautiful album. Definitely AOTY !

[@stalewaterbottle]

i've gotten used to this guy disliking everything i like, but im SO GLAD HE LOVES IT

[@tylerhackner9731]

Nice

[@GIBKEL]

Any Blacklisted hints? That album still gives me the chills and shivers.

[@ddtvdmcse]

I love the presentation and review of this album. The lighting brings you out. You look so handsome and sexy. I love it. So breathtaking 🤩😍

[@ahri3887]

I did not expect to like this album at all based on the name and artwork. How very wrong I was. Extremely strong AOTY contender.

[@xshadowscreamx]

True detective season 5

[@thomasherrington7237]

Great album but the crossing state lines thing is straight up funny. That line makes like 0 sense to me and was a wierd line that for me didn't up the intensity of the toxicity it just kinda seems so superfluous n the story it's referencing is just so misguided it doesn't land. Eh love the album but that line seems so off

[@upcruss2852]

i really really wish this album worked for me. I love many of the influences (grouper and lingua ignota are two of my favorite artists ever) but Ethel Cain doesn't succeed on either of the fronts that those artists do. She doesn't have the raw brutality and she doesn't have the slow, plodding insistence. I can't shake the impression that this sounds neutered from what it could be. When I hear critics describe the crushing gothic force of this project I feel like I'm listening to the wrong album. While LI uses abstractions to reference the concrete narrative of her abuse, EC uses a concrete narrative of the Preacher's Daughter to reference abstract concepts of generational trauma and patriarchy and such, which she does quite well, but I feel that the former is a more appropriate method of wrangling the intensity of the lyrical themes. Ultimately, that is a reconcilable flaw. If I imagine a Grouper album with these lyrics and a few touches of electric guitar and pedal steel and fiddle this album would be great and I would be totally on board, but my main issue is with the way that it sounds. I do not think it is totally fair to dispel LDR comparisons. While the aesthetic similarities are only slightly more than tangential, the vocal melodies sound a lot closer to Lana with extra reverb than they do to Elizabeth Harris. A staple of the Grouper sound is that the vocals sit back in the mix and that the melodies, both instrumental and vocal, are stretched out and limited in pitch range, such that the entire composition is built upon one pressure point. Cain's singing is far less dejected, her reverb and delay are far more rounded and the dry signal is much more forward. It is less ambient and more pop (not that Preachers Daughter is pop music, but the vocal style could be in a different context). Granted, the Lana comparison isn't perfect either, but it's not as if it's totally baseless. I hear it much more than I hear a Grouper comparison. Anyways, I think through the twenty or so minute process of writing this comment I've discovered why this project doesn't work for me like I wish it did. I'll definitely continue to listen to Cain's future releases, and I'm glad that others are getting so much out of it.

[@emmao7844]

this is one of the best albums i’ve ever heard it’s so heartbreaking :( plus the full circle moment at the end of sun bleached flies is so perfect