Jesus can always reject his father,
But he cannot escape his mother's blood.
- Family Tree (Intro)
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This album is heavily triggering for a lot of people, with themes of murder, religious trauma, suicide, and sexual assault. Please proceed with caution.
It's dark on the highway that bisects Indiana, illuminated partially by billboard signs declaring the good word of Jesus Christ and denouncing us as sinners. Driving on that highway, I often think of Ethel Cain's story in Preacher's Daughter, her debut album. Did she have any idea what was going to come of her once she reached California? Did she even care? Was any other story possible, or was Ethel fated to bear the Mark of Cain, to be unjustifiably ruined by scared men? Listening through, it's hard to imagine Ethel's fate to be any other way, but every time I listen through I secretly hope that she reaches the salvation that she deserves, reminding me of ancient Greek tragedies. More on the story later.
As someone whose favorite genre is pop girlie tunes, Preacher's Daughter being my absolute favorite album of all time by a landslide is a bit surprising. After all, Ethel Cain's music has often been described as slowcore, exemplified with how 8 out of the 13 songs are over 5 minutes long, with the longest song being 9 minutes. The instrumentation is fairly simple and so is the singing (most of the time), but let us not conflate simple with bad. It's easy for me to get enraptured in the storyline and get lost in the music. The lyrics are absolutely gorgeous, as you will soon see when we get down to the track list. The long songs do not feel long at all; Ptolomaea feels only like 2 minutes, even though its a little over 6 minutes.