On November 1st, Ethel Cain dropped a single that quickly reached nearly 2 million streams on Spotify. “Punish” is the first taste of Ethel Cain’s new project “Perverts,” the new storyline, the new “era,” and — as a massive Ethel Cain fan — I can’t wait for more.Â
The full album will be released on January 8th, a day simultaneously too far away and one that I know will creep up on me unexpectedly. I wonder if that was intentional on her behalf… I can only wonder, the mind of Ethel Cain, or Hayden Silas Anhedönia — her real name — is infinitely fascinating. It is important to remember that this album, from what we know so far, is separate from “Preacher’s Daughter,” Cain’s first full-length album that has garnered a cult-like following, just as Ethel Cain herself has done.
But, anyway, back to “Punish.” And, quick FYI, this is entirely my interpretation of the song. In fact, Ethel Cain has released a statement on her Tumblr of what she intended when she wrote the song, and it is far different from what I first believed and far darker, but that’s not all that surprising. She said this in response to a question on November 2nd, “the og concept for perverts was a character study about different ‘perverts’, inspired by reading knockemstiff. a sex addict, a pedophile, an arsonist, a sedative addict, etc. the project is completely different now but punish and amber waves are the only surviving demos from it so they’re still about that. punish is about a pedophile who was shot by the child’s father and now lives in exile where he physically maims himself to simulate the bullet wound in order to punish himself. at least that’s what i had in mind i wrote it. the song can be whatever you want it to be.”
Dark, but — like I said — fascinating. Here’s what I got from “Punish;” it’s pretty different.
The haunting vocals and reverberating notes of the piano are captivating. The song is so intimate, as if you are overhearing Ethel’s inner monologue or her quiet prayer during the middle of the night. After all, starting with the lyric ”Whatever’s wrong with me / I will take to bed,” almost sounds like lines out of a prayer, someone asking for their faults to be taken away, or at least to know how to hide them. Ending the verse with a melancholic repetition of “It has always been this way” shows a resignation, Ethel Cain submitting herself to her spot in life, to loneliness and isolation. This feeling is tied directly in with the chorus, once again, engaging in repetition as she sings “I am punished by love” twice, and eventually four times in the final chorus. Ethel is saying that love has always been this way for her, it punishes her every time — there must be something “wrong” with her.
Cain starts the second verse with the line, “In the morning I will mar myself again,” with “mar” having many synonyms, “damage,” “bruise,” or “flog,” as in the form of Catholic punishment for sin. But the grandest form of punishment comes at the end of the verse, as she sings, “Only God knows / Only God would believe / That I was angel / But they made me leave / But they made me leave.” As she ends the second verse, the music drastically picks up, almost as if the amp of a guitar is turned up too high, but it works perfectly. This is the sound of Ethel being thrown from Heaven as that aforementioned fallen angel, the Earth parting to swallow her up, the roar of hell. It is her “punishment” for falling in love — being cast out.
While my understanding of Ethel Cain’s “Punish” is quite different from her intention, Cain encourages personal interpretations of her work, especially given how personal they are. Obviously, we are missing the further context of the whole “Perverts” album, but “Punish” offers quite the look into what we can expect. Dark, thoughtful, shocking, philosophical, all of that is here and we will definitely be seeing more of it on January 8th.