Image Credit: Silken Weinberg and Hayden Anhedönia

I first saw Ethel Cain perform at Gunnersbury Park in the summer of 2023. Unlike the friends I was with, I wasn’t yet an established fan, but was made one by the incredible vocals and lyrics I heard that day. Around a year later I would see her again and be astonished for a second time. With this in mind, you can probably guess that I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Cain’s sophomore album Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You since it was announced in March; and here it is. 

The release of a side project – that is, a diversion from the Ethel Cain lore as we know it – came in the form of Perverts this January. An exploration of ambience and obscurity, the record received mixed reviews from fans of Cain’s more lyrical or pop-esque tracks, the latter of which is exemplified by the star’s biggest hit to date, ‘American Teenager’. It has been assumed that this new album, the second in a series detailing the fictional tribulations of Hayden Anhedönia’s stage persona, will represent a return to the story-like nature of her debut LP, Preacher’s Daughter, though glimpses of the controversial dark narrative are sure to peek through. 

Willoughby Tucker opens calmly with a track centred around slow, simple guitars accompanied by soft, emotional vocals. ‘Janie’ does not erupt like many of her others, making it the perfect introduction to a new record. Then comes an instrumental number, continuing the build-up in a measured but still somewhat haunting way. After this we hear ‘Fuck Me Eyes,’ one of the album’s two singles. Reminiscent of past hits like ‘Gibson Girl,’ this song encapsulates Cain’s ability to tow the line between exquisite tension and dramatically conclusive vocals, and its beauty is further established by lyrics surrounding the complexity of female sexuality, a topic she never fails to cover beautifully. 

Interestingly, the two singles are placed next to one another, with ‘Nettles’ as our next gem of listening pleasure. And the song is certainly pleasant: with less tension and more melodic storytelling, this is probably my personal favourite. After another instrumental piece, tracks ‘Dust Bowl’ and ‘A Knock at the Door’ re-introduce us to the calm with which the record began and which will prevail from now on. For me, the former of these two is redolent of Duster’s slow, trudging, but ever-effective chords, and therefore takes its place as another favourite of mine. 

Tastes of dark, poignant ambience come along with ‘Radio Towers’ and ‘Tempest’; with limited lyrics, these tracks remain understated but dramatic in their own way. The same cannot be said for Willoughby Tucker’s closing piece. ‘Waco, Texas’ is 15 minutes long and constantly rising, a seminal work characteristic of an artist as prolific as Cain but comparable, really, to nothing else. The desperation of the song, the protagonist’s desire to “fix” her subject, perfectly displays the emotional turmoil we have seen described throughout Cain’s entire discography.  Overall, this record is undeniably phenomenal. It differs from Preacher’s Daughter in the general absence of catchier, more upbeat songs. Furthermore, despite the rise and fall we see in many of the tracks, we never quite meet the summit we might expect having heard the likes of ‘Sun Bleached Flies’. Whether this is a weakness or simply a fact is, of course, a matter of opinion: to me, the slightly calmer and more off-piste nature of Willoughby Tucker only adds to its beauty. Then again, I was a fan of the strange, meandering sounds of Perverts.