Ethel Cain has announced her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, will arrive May 12. Ahead of the release, Cain has shared the single “Gibson Girl.”
Cain spoke to Alternative Press at length about the narrative behind her debut album in issue #402.
Read more: Ethel Cain shares Britney Spears “Everytime” cover for International Women’s Day
The story centers around three generations of women, and it starts with the youngest, the daughter. It’s pretty much just a classic American tale. A common theme that I like to write about is intergenerational trauma. Things that have been passed down through generations and how your parents’ or your grandparents’ actions can affect you. It’s very much about this lineage of women and how all their lives interconnect. Each album focuses on a different woman. I want to explore how your actions affect others and the relationship between a mother and her child and how things come full circle.
Overall, it’s definitely a cautionary tale of what happens if you don’t break a cycle and you let it continue to almost a ruinous point. It’s what I see as a dark timeline of what would happen if everything hit its lowest point. So it’s very much bittersweet [and] like a melodrama. This first record is about this girl who is dealing with things from her past that her family has led her to being involved in and her trying to find a place in the world and break out of it. It’s going to be a big epic centered around her.
Cain collaborated with multiple instrumentalists for the album, including Matt Tomasi and Colyer. She served as the producer and writer, presiding over the entire creative process.
In addition, Cain will play two album release shows in May, one in New York City and the other in LA.
Watch the visualizer for “Gibson Girl” below.
Album release shows
05/18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge
05/25 – New York City, NY @ Market Hotel
Preacher’s Daughter tracklisting
1. “Family Tree (Intro)”
2. “American Teenager”
3. “A House in Nebraska”
4. “Western Nights”
5. “Family Tree”
6. “Hard Times”
7. “Thoroughfare”
8. “Gibson Girl”
9. “Ptolemaea”
10. “August Underground”
11. “Televangelism”
12. “Sun Bleached Flies”
13. “Strangers”