Ethel Cain, Raised In A Bubble, Stays Isolated For Her Art

Wicca Phase Springs Eternal — the emo-rap project of Adam McIlwee, who founded the music collective Goth Boi Clique that nurtured Lil Tracy and the late icon Lil Peep — stumbled upon her work and was immediately pulled in.“I saw Ethel’s name on a Nicole Dollangager flyer in 2019 and decided to listen to her music, probably because I thought she had a good name,” McIlwee shares via email. “I started working on it when I was like 19,” she says. “I really wanted to explore ’90s nostalgia with her and work my way back up through the decades for the future albums as we go back up the family tree.” This album is a part of a trilogy that follows three generations of women, but chronologically it’s not the first — it’s the last, centering on the youngest of the bunch. I want to tell the tales of people who are suffering from that, because there are a lot of people here who don’t agree with that and don’t believe in that and you never really hear about them.” She aims to dive into the “dark side of patriotism,” and the power that the American dream holds over people despite the fact that it will likely “do nothing but get you killed, leave a hole in your family, and put money in [the government’s] pocket,” she says.But the misunderstanding and misconstruing of her art are inevitable, only contributing to her drive to get further off the grid. She is on the aforementioned Prescription Songs, the major label founded by disgraced producer Dr. Luke, about which she has said: “I am completely oblivious to most things in the industry [...] All I can say is I stay in my bubble and do my work.” Sacrifice was necessary to bring Preacher’s Daughter to life, though, judging by the music, it’s surprising that it wasn’t something more intense and ritualistic like human sacrifice.