Ethel Cain, who was predicted to become the new face of alt-indie, defied all expectations with her latest release, “Perverts.” Fully produced and mixed under her real name, Hayden Anhedönia, this album marks a deliberate step away from the Ethel Cain trilogy. Deeply influenced by her upbringing in a strict religious household,
Anhedönia continues to explore the complexities of faith, guilt and rebellion in this album but takes it into a darker, more morbid territory than she has before. The result is a boundary-pushing, beautiful piece of art, solidifying its place as a must-listen album of the year.
Released on Jan. 8, “Perverts” has a runtime of 1 hour and 30 minutes, with nine tracks. It is certainly not a fun and easy album to listen to, with multiple tracks exceeding 10 minutes and being mostly instrumental, but it is still undeniably worth the listen. Unlike Anhedönia’s previous relatively digestible melodies, she presents this sound that is cold, bleak and magnificently haunting, simply as a form of art and experimentation.
The album opens with the title track, “Perverts.” This disturbing song starts off with a crunchy, VHS-like rendition of “Nearer My God To Thee,” followed by around 10 minutes of silence. This boldly establishes the album’s tone and central theme of disillusionment with religion, feeling “perverted” and being treated as such.
The lead single, “Punish,” stands out as the album’s most traditionally melodic and popular track, but its themes are far from traditional. “Punish” shows the unsettling perspective of a pedophile struggling with the shame of his crimes. Another notable song in the album is “Pulldrone,” which consists of a beautifully worded speech describing and listing the twelve stages of Simulacrum.
The album ends with the song “Amber Waves,” a slow and beautiful ballad depicting the experience of throwing one’s life away for drugs and the realization that the mortal body is bound by limitations and will never be able to get past the veil to God. It perfectly sums up the idea of “Perverts,” encapsulating the cyclical nature of the album’s themes and suggesting an endless loop of suffering and resignation.
“Perverts” is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is clear Anhedönia wanted to create art with this release, and in that, she undeniably succeeded. Its bold, uncompromising exploration of pain, guilt and rebellion is both emotionally gripping and artistically daring. She asked her fans to go on a disturbing and challenging journey with this album. The question is, will you take the journey, or will this one leave you behind?