Ethel Cain - Perverts

[StrawberryBlond 14,253]

I didn't expect it to be so noisy, it was a very jarring listen. I love a good ambient piece, I enjoyed Punish and to see so many saying that every song sounds lifted out of the Silent Hill soundtrack, I was ready for this. But honestly, there's very little lyrics in it or even much in the way of pleasant sounds, it's mostly just blunt noise that you can't turn up too loud because it's torturous on the ears. The longest tracks contained almost indecipherable words, they were just an extended dull sound expanded for an ungodly length of time. A long droning buzz of white noise (Perverts), a washing machine (Housofpsychoticwomn), a lawnmower, electric drill and a bagpipe (Pulldrone) is how I'd describe them. I'm baffled as to what you'd use this music for, a lot of people have said chilling out and relaxing but they produced the opposite in me, I was just anxiously analysing the time stamp to see when it would end. The ones with more lyrics in them were a bit more palatable but the only ones I truly thought had any real ability to move were Punish, Onanist and Etienne. Almost everything else was just a racket that I couldn't see any artistry in whatsoever. Making the same sound without letting up for 12+ minutes doesn't actually say anything. While games like Silent Hill have utilised similar sounds (my first thought when I began hearing the album was the beginning of A Stray Child, along with many other sonic similarities throughout the series), they have light and shade, evolving and bringing the track to a conclusion, involving emotion and making it a reasonable length because any longer would just be a bit pointless.

I just feel like Ethel did this just to say she'd done something so "out there." She basically said she didn't like all the fame that her more commercial work gave her. It just feels like a way to earn cool indie chick points and not much else. I am now wanting to go back and revisit Preacher's Daughter and still intrigued to try out her earlier EPs but maybe sit out any future ambient projects.

On 1/8/2025 at 7:43 AM, PrincessGUY said:

And just like that the bandwagon of fair weather fans who know Crush and American Teenager yet made EC their entire personality have been taken care of. 😁

I don't really think it's fair to say that anyone who doesn't like it just doesn't understand or appreciate. This kinda album is so polarising and isn't meant to be liked by everyone, it will only appeal to a niche but absolutely doesn't mean you can't enjoy her other stuff, nor should it be a measuring stick of how much of a fan you are. You can still be a fan but not have every project be your taste. It was obvious she was never going to be a commercial MPG, her fanbase has always been very indie focused.

[alsemanche 92,178]

14 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

just feel like Ethel did this just to say she'd done something so "out there." She basically said she didn't like all the fame that her more commercial work gave her. It just feels like a way to earn cool indie chick points and not much else. I am now wanting to go back and revisit Preacher's Daughter and still intrigued to try out her earlier EPs but maybe sit out any future ambient projects.

That's such a dismissive thing to say and it really undermines the work put into the work. Imagine recording almost 90 minutes of music just too scores indie points and weed out fake fans or whatever. She clearly said she loves drone music and wanted to make a drone album so she did. She's known for appreciating this kind of music basd on the music she's shared on her different platforms before so this doesn't really come as a surprise to me or to others who know her as an artist and have been following for a while.

Besides, she's already stated that this is a deviation from the PD universe so she will go back to that sound/storyline once the follow up is ready

[Ziggy 10,802]

It’s interesting people were surprised by this. Idk it seems very in-line with her sound. If the first was dream pop at times this album turns that on its head and gives the opposite but complimentary sound. I really love it. I think the people who are MAD about it are ones who expected a pop star to give them a personality again for the next few years but…that’s not Ethel Cain at alllll

[Ziggy 10,802]

1 hour ago, alsemanche said:

That's such a dismissive thing to say and it really undermines the work put into the work. Imagine recording almost 90 minutes of music just too scores indie points and weed out fake fans or whatever. She clearly said she loves drone music and wanted to make a drone album so she did. She's known for appreciating this kind of music basd on the music she's shared on her different platforms before so this doesn't really come as a surprise to me or to others who know her as an artist and have been following for a while.

Besides, she's already stated that this is a deviation from the PD universe so she will go back to that sound/storyline once the follow up is ready

Agreed. Based on that song she released for Palestine it’s clear this is where her head is rn. And she’s also not mentally locked into the pop cycle of things. She’s gonna make and release music as she does and you’ll be with it or not. She strikes me as a real artist and when inspiration strikes they follow it. 

[Ziggy 10,802]

2 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I didn't expect it to be so noisy, it was a very jarring listen. I love a good ambient piece, I enjoyed Punish and to see so many saying that every song sounds lifted out of the Silent Hill soundtrack, I was ready for this. But honestly, there's very little lyrics in it or even much in the way of pleasant sounds, it's mostly just blunt noise that you can't turn up too loud because it's torturous on the ears. The longest tracks contained almost indecipherable words, they were just an extended dull sound expanded for an ungodly length of time. A long droning buzz of white noise (Perverts), a washing machine (Housofpsychoticwomn), a lawnmower, electric drill and a bagpipe (Pulldrone) is how I'd describe them. I'm baffled as to what you'd use this music for, a lot of people have said chilling out and relaxing but they produced the opposite in me, I was just anxiously analysing the time stamp to see when it would end. The ones with more lyrics in them were a bit more palatable but the only ones I truly thought had any real ability to move were Punish, Onanist and Etienne. Almost everything else was just a racket that I couldn't see any artistry in whatsoever. Making the same sound without letting up for 12+ minutes doesn't actually say anything. While games like Silent Hill have utilised similar sounds (my first thought when I began hearing the album was the beginning of A Stray Child, along with many other sonic similarities throughout the series), they have light and shade, evolving and bringing the track to a conclusion, involving emotion and making it a reasonable length because any longer would just be a bit pointless.

I just feel like Ethel did this just to say she'd done something so "out there." She basically said she didn't like all the fame that her more commercial work gave her. It just feels like a way to earn cool indie chick points and not much else. I am now wanting to go back and revisit Preacher's Daughter and still intrigued to try out her earlier EPs but maybe sit out any future ambient projects.

I don't really think it's fair to say that anyone who doesn't like it just doesn't understand or appreciate. This kinda album is so polarising and isn't meant to be liked by everyone, it will only appeal to a niche but absolutely doesn't mean you can't enjoy her other stuff, nor should it be a measuring stick of how much of a fan you are. You can still be a fan but not have every project be your taste. It was obvious she was never going to be a commercial MPG, her fanbase has always been very indie focused.

I don’t think it’s meant to be niche or polarizing. It’s just what they wanted to make lol

[alsemanche 92,178]

26 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

Agreed. Based on that song she released for Palestine it’s clear this is where her head is rn. And she’s also not mentally locked into the pop cycle of things. She’s gonna make and release music as she does and you’ll be with it or not. She strikes me as a real artist and when inspiration strikes they follow it. 

Yup exactly. Even in PD we have August Underground and Televangelism back to back and they are fully fledged tracks and not just instrumental interludes so I don't really understand how this is that surprising ngl 

Edited January 9 by alsemanche

[Luv u Sum 2,304]

i'm kind of obsessed with this ???? 

vacillator and amber waves are so gorgeous holy SH*T

and i actually like the drone stuff it's very interesting when you have headphones on and just sit with it  

[PrincessGUY 388]

3 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

 

I don't really think it's fair to say that anyone who doesn't like it just doesn't understand or appreciate. This kinda album is so polarising and isn't meant to be liked by everyone, it will only appeal to a niche but absolutely doesn't mean you can't enjoy her other stuff, nor should it be a measuring stick of how much of a fan you are. You can still be a fan but not have every project be your taste. It was obvious she was never going to be a commercial MPG, her fanbase has always been very indie focused.

My post was aimed towards those who were into the music for the meme. The ones who made it about the fact that she made f*cked up indie/sad cottagecore like a clinically depressed Little House on the Prairie. The same ones she had no qualms about dragging on Twitter. I’ve known a few. 
 

and no, she didn’t make this just to make something “out there”. 
 

 

[nATAH 43,806]

this was so boring chile

[Bling 31,235]

Me listening to this...collection of songs.

[StrawberryBlond 14,253]

5 hours ago, alsemanche said:

That's such a dismissive thing to say and it really undermines the work put into the work. Imagine recording almost 90 minutes of music just too scores indie points and weed out fake fans or whatever. She clearly said she loves drone music and wanted to make a drone album so she did. She's known for appreciating this kind of music basd on the music she's shared on her different platforms before so this doesn't really come as a surprise to me or to others who know her as an artist and have been following for a while.

Besides, she's already stated that this is a deviation from the PD universe so she will go back to that sound/storyline once the follow up is ready

I'm not against making such an album but rather that it just isn't that good and just seems to focus on a single sound for a long period of time without any evolution and it's even done in a way where it doesn't even resemble music but just sound and any lyrics are mumbled and like they're tuned down on a radio so you can't even decipher what anyone's saying. It wasn't enriching ambient but just a pounding on the ears for some of it.

3 hours ago, Ziggy said:

I don’t think it’s meant to be niche or polarizing. It’s just what they wanted to make lol

This type of music will not appeal to 99% of people. You can't possibly say you weren't trying to appeal to a very niche market here.

2 hours ago, PrincessGUY said:

My post was aimed towards those who were into the music for the meme. The ones who made it about the fact that she made f*cked up indie/sad cottagecore like a clinically depressed Little House on the Prairie. The same ones she had no qualms about dragging on Twitter. I’ve known a few. 
 

and no, she didn’t make this just to make something “out there”. 

I just think that we get into a bad place when we say that anyone who doesn't like everything a singer puts out is a "fake fan." It's that kind of thinking that makes artists think they can do no wrong and encourages blind adoration and that's not healthy. 

[Ziggy 10,802]

1 hour ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I'm not against making such an album but rather that it just isn't that good and just seems to focus on a single sound for a long period of time without any evolution and it's even done in a way where it doesn't even resemble music but just sound and any lyrics are mumbled and like they're tuned down on a radio so you can't even decipher what anyone's saying. It wasn't enriching ambient but just a pounding on the ears for some of it.

This type of music will not appeal to 99% of people. You can't possibly say you weren't trying to appeal to a very niche market here.

I just think that we get into a bad place when we say that anyone who doesn't like everything a singer puts out is a "fake fan." It's that kind of thinking that makes artists think they can do no wrong and encourages blind adoration and that's not healthy. 

My point was moreso I don’t think appeal was on her mind. I think she just wanted to make what she wanted. She’s not really an artist who thinks about commerciality  that’s more a pop music thing which isn’t her bag or lane

[PrincessGUY 388]

6 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I just think that we get into a bad place when we say that anyone who doesn't like everything a singer puts out is a "fake fan." It's that kind of thinking that makes artists think they can do no wrong and encourages blind adoration and that's not healthy. 

I think you’re taking my original post more seriously than intended. It’s okay to not like something an artist puts out. Art is subjective and if it isn’t your taste that’s fine. Totally healthy and deeply encouraged. It wouldn’t be art if that weren’t the case. 
 

but I will reiterate that I meant the folks who became fans and focused more on the gore or the fact that she’s “the girl who made an album about a girl being murdered and eaten lol!” I’ve known a few people who started acting like day one hardcore fans who literally only listened to/ heard Crush and AT and nothing else.  Think of it like the people who buy a Misfits shirt because they thought The Fiend logo looks cool but has never even listened to the band at all. That’s more in line of who I was talking about.

And again, it’s not that serious