Ethel Cain released Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You last month, on Aug. 8. As someone who has been immersed in the Ethel Cain lore and universe for years now, here are some thoughts.
It’s important to know this is a concept album, the prequel to Cain’s debut 2022 record “Preacher’s Daughter”.
First of all, Ethel Cain is a stage name behind the talented artist Hayden Anhedönia. Ethel Cain also doubles as the fully fictional young wo
man in these concept albums. When referring to the character, use Ethel, and when talking about the artist, use Hayden.
Alright, now to delve into the “Preacher’s Daughter” lore. Ethel is from Shady Grove, Alabama where her father was the town preacher. She’s the type of girl to run barefoot in the woods with a rugged camo jacket and a pair of old torn-up boots.
Teenage Ethel suffered a complicated and scarring upbringing, stemming from her copious amounts of religious trauma. She was desperate for love in any way possible, craving feelings of safety to fill the gap of inner turmoil and loss in her heart.
In “Preacher’s Daughter,” Hayden introduced a savior named Willoughby. Spoiler: He was the only man that ever gave her the safety she so longed for, and the escape from her mind she was willing to sell her soul to have.
This prequel album, “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” focuses on their relationship: the pain, the hurt, the love and the in-between moments.
Track 2: Willoughby’s Theme
This piece of art is one of the most pivotal moments in the album. Hayden enthralls listeners without using a single lyric in the whole 4:44. The feeling of falling in love. No, it’s not a pop banger or shallow love song. Its instrumentals and heavenly sound influences one to look to the past of falling in love.
This is the point in the record where Ethel officially attaches herself to Willoughby, the crucial moment where love consumes her. There’s no turning back now, no running away. She is infatuated with every aspect of him, and it’s shown in a deep, passionate light.
Track 4: Nettles
“Nettles” is a favorite on this album. Ethel talks about laying down with Willoughby where the “trees hang low” and the “greenery stings.”
The next lyric she sings really gets me. “I can hear them singin’ ‘To love me is to suffer me,’ and I believe that.” To Love Me Is To Suffer Me. Are you kidding Hayden? You didn’t need to absolutely destroy everyone.
Ethel continues to talk about how she feels painful to love. Exactly like how a nettle is a type of spiky plant that is extremely rough and agonizing to step on, but, in reality, is medically beneficial for the environment. It’s the perfect metaphor for the level of complexity she feels in her heart.
Track 9: Tempest
“Tempest” is the only track in the perspective of Willoughby.
The pain, the hurt, the suffering from Willoughby. It’s so dark, it’s almost hellish. It steals joy in the best way possible.
Listeners really get to know how Willoughby truly feels in this song. For the first time, it’s about him. Hayden starts with “Can you hear them, the trains?” Willoughby’s greatest fear is the weather, and in regions with mass tornadoes, trains can often sound similar. So yes, assumptions are right. In this song, a tornado hits Shady Grove, Alabama.
Hayden sings “Please, just go easy on me, I am young and naive, I don’t know what I need.” Ethel needs to know he’s not a savior sent down by God that is going to rescue her, he is at war in his mind and severely broken.
Willoughby is in no way afraid of death. He wishes for it. Willoughby sees death as an escape, which is referenced in the song.
A lengthy silence ends the track. Because of the narrator’s lack of reliability, nobody will ever know if he got away from the tornado or met the end of his life.
On a personal note:
I got to see Hayden Sept. 5. For the second time in my life. I’m eternally grateful for that.
Seeing her in concert is always life altering for me, this time especially. “Nettles” and “A House In Nebraska” crushed me.
This artwork is a part of me. Sonically, it takes me to where the greenery stings and the trees bend low.
It pulls me from the world and transports me to that overgrown meadow in the middle of nowhere.
This record makes me feel the weight of Ethel and Willoughby’s love, pain and trauma.
