I don’t know if it’s a compliment or not when I say that Ethel Cain’s latest album, “Pervert“, made me feel more disoriented and isolated than anything I’ve ever heard before.
Sitting in my room on a bright and cheerful Wednesday morning, I pressed play on Cain’s new project, and I’d be lying if I said my first instinct wasn’t to immediately turn it off. Somehow the album managed to transform a familiar space into a liminal one, and I felt completely disconnected from my surroundings – like a stranger in my own home.
But the more I think about it, and the more online discourse I read about this incredibly alienating work, the more I realize that its disturbing and off-putting qualities are exactly what makes it so impressive.
Based on the album’s title, as well as Cain’s familiarity with taboo—an EP and track titled “Innate,» and a story of cannibalism on his first album, «Pastor’s Daughter — I wouldn’t say I didn’t expect to be disturbed when this project was released. However, I had hoped to be disturbed by the lyricism and narration, rather than nearly 90 minutes of pure ambient drone noise.
The album wasn’t to my taste, not because it was so haunting, but because it lacked my favorite element of Cain’s work: his lyricism. I want to be crystal clear that I didn’t expect “Perverts” to compare to “Preacher’s Daughter”, but I did expect it to have more than three songs with real lyrics and a melody. For me, there needs to be a balance between lyrical and instrumental tracks, and “Perverts” leaned too far into the latter.
That being said, the lyrics that Cain featured on this album were typically beautiful, complex, and thought-provoking. Cain is no stranger to storytelling in his works, and while this project’s story is nowhere near as complex and linear as that of “Preacher’s Daughter,” “Perverts” shines in its ability to connect with its listeners through various perspectives, making them question their beliefs and moral stance.
On the album’s second track, “Punish“, sings Cain from the pervert’s point of view.
She sung“I am punished by love, / In the morning, / I will waste myself again / It was a natural Plauché / He said ‘you will not forget that / The shame is vivid / And my skin gives way so easily’ / God only knows / Only God would believe / That I was an angel / But they made me leave.
Here, and throughout the rest of the song, Cain complains about the nature of perversion, stirring a sense of understanding in his listeners until they feel ashamed and become perverted through the simple act of sympathizing. The next two pieces, “House for psychotic women” and “Vacillator” create an increasingly horrifying soundscape until Cain begins singing again, placing twisted lyrics over a now deceptively comforting instrumental.