Perverts by Ethel Cain

We knew to expect an experimental turn for the next Ethel Cain record, but nothing could have prepared us for Perverts, a dark ambient record that experiments thematically, sonically, vocally, and structurally to present a nuanced philosophical system that addresses some of the deepest, darkest emotional hollows. Any reading of Perverts that passes off the record as a mere deconstruction of traditional spirituality severely misses the point; Cain’s own spiritual system, founded upon art as a mechanism for transcendental closeness with God, wavers in and out of parallel with church orthodoxy as it charts its own path of morality and value. Far above the perverse pleasures of meaningless (or even predatory) sex and self-gratification, art, love, and nature elevate us on the spiritual plane, a movement illustrated here by the slow crowding of the frequency spectrum, beginning and ending with crushingly austere static images and cresting to a full, incredible height. Life outside these heights feels dark, hollow, meaningless, but even these brief images of the divine revolutionize our existence, reorienting our values in a perfect natural direction.