Preacher’s Daughter is a record that breathes authenticity while reframing and reshaping its creator’s experiences, seemingly in hopes of finding some sense or purpose.
Because she has, and the magic of Ethel Cain is her ability to translate that lived experience into soundscapes. Preacher's Daughter is an American epic.
There's a substance and cohesion across Preacher's Daughter that's lacking on most debuts – and yet there's clearly so much more to come from this incredible artist and the rich world she's created.
A heart-wrenching collection of songs that urges the listener to give themselves over to this album as much as Ethel Cain gives herself over to you.
Ethereal and devastating, Preacher’s Daughter is a startling demonstration of talent by Ethel Cain. The album cultivates and brandishes a voice worth stopping and listening to and, ultimately, fully submerging to.
Combining the storytelling of Taylor Swift’s folklore and the musical theater readiness of Spellling’s The Turning Wheel, Preacher’s Daughter comes across more like an event than any singular album.
On her debut album, the 24-year-old Tallahassee native briefly makes good on her instinct for mass-appeal pop anthems, but most of the 76-minute album dwells on roiling gloom and smoldering Americana.
Whole Lotta Reverb
Edit (55 - > 75): Going in with the reference that it is Slowcore helps a lot. It feels very dragged out. there are some huge highlights in the second half. Not an album I am jumping for joy here, but I can see how my first impression was not really fully reflective of the whole experience.
brutal and unnerving storytelling, bass and riffs you can feel in the back of your spine and brain, deep cuts that go straight through the heart. ethel cain is a product of all the lana del reys and nico dollangangers of the world just a tad more polished and focused. this being her debut album but sounds like she has years of experience behind her with this album. cant wait what this woman has in store for us.
From a distance, I had a feeling I would love this album. And while clocking in at a staggering, intense hour and 15 minutes, Ethel over-delivers. This is a visually intense, crushing, narrative driven album that is absolutely not for the faint of heart. Sex, drugs, sexual abuse, murder, the open road, the American Dream, and more are crammed into this monolithic release. Ethel also touches down on numerous genres, from classic Singer-Songwriter material, to blisteringly gloomy SlowCore, ... read more
1 | Family Tree (Intro) 3:41 | 88 |
2 | American Teenager 4:18 | 92 |
3 | A House In Nebraska 7:46 | 90 |
4 | Western Nights 6:05 | 84 |
5 | Family Tree 7:10 | 91 |
6 | Hard Times 5:03 | 88 |
7 | Thoroughfare 9:27 | 91 |
8 | Gibson Girl 5:42 | 90 |
9 | Ptolemaea 6:23 | 93 |
10 | August Underground 3:40 | 82 |
11 | Televangelism 3:03 | 85 |
12 | Sun Bleached Flies 7:36 | 91 |
13 | Strangers 5:44 | 93 |