Perry, FL · southern gothic · slowcore-pop

Ethel Cain

2 upcoming festivals

Southern-gothic epics — hymn-like, haunted Americana that turns festival fields reverent, the 'Preacher's Daughter' mythology unfolding at its own patient pace.

Ethel Cain is the recording persona of Hayden Anhedönia, a songwriter from Perry, Florida who was raised in a Southern Baptist household and left the church as a teenager. The name belongs to a fictional character whose story runs across her records, and the songs are written from inside that narrative: small-town America, family violence, religion and desire, treated at length and at a deliberate pace.

Musically the work draws on slowcore, shoegaze, ambient music and country balladry, with long instrumental passages and heavily reverbed vocals. Her album Preacher's Daughter, released in 2022, brought her a substantial following, and she has continued to release material that leans further toward drone and ambient textures.

southern gothicslowcore-pop