Ethel Cain – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You
On her latest album, Ethel Cain has once again translated incredibly personal experiences into deeply universal feelings
A prequel to debut album Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel Cain’s sophomore record creates an ethereal collection of memories, which paint the picture of her first love. Janie sets a sombre and retrospective tone. Young and stuck in her hometown, Cain looks back on the crushing experience of an old love finding the next person to hold onto. The universe seems miniscule because your hometown is this inescapable place and she uses a chunky electric chord progression to express that feeling, resembling the end of the world.
Throughout the record Cain creates an ocean of time for instrumental sections to crash between songs. These parts can trail on. Though, at other times these transitions from instrumental back into Cain’s lyrical magic, as on Willoughby’s Interlude into Dust Bowl, is a highlight. The latter captures the honeymoon horniness that first love creates and has never been felt before. That feeling especially comes through in the way she speeds up the track and then slows it back down. On Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You Cain has once again been able to translate incredibly personal experiences into deeply universal feelings that come from young love and heartbreak.
Listen to: Janie, Dust Bowl, A Knock at the Door