Album Review: 'Golden Age' by Ethel Cain

I have been a dedicated Ethel Cain listener for several years now. I have seen her in person twice, the first time in Nashville at Ryman Auditorium and the second time at Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.  

I chose to review “Golden Age” because it is one of Ethel’s most underrated projects in my opinion. “Golden Age” is Ethel’s second EP, following her first, titled “Carpet Bed.”  

What many may not know is that Ethel Cain is a conceptual alter ego of Hayden Anhedonia. Before Anhedonia was Ethel Cain, she made music under the name White Silas.  

She rose to prominence in 2022 with the release of her critically acclaimed album “Preachers Daughter” featuring her most popular and eventually Tik Tok famous songs “Crush” and “American Teenager.”  

Ethel’s sound is known to be very ethereal, atmospheric, ambient and hypnotic. Her sound mixed with the Southern Gothic concept is incredibly original and specific to her as an artist. If you are already a fan of Ethel’s, I would highly recommend you check out Nicole Dollanganger’s music as well.  

“Golden Age’s” first track, titled “Sunday Morning,” dives into themes of domestic abuse and the romanticization of toxicity within relationships. The mixture of angelic vocals mixed with synthesizers, guitars and eventually nature sounds in the climax of the song are tantamount to who Ethel is as a concept and an artist.  

“Sunday Morning,” from my own perspective, puts me into a state of trance and this feels intentional on Ethel’s part, as most of her music has this same effect.  

Track two, “Casings,” examines themes of infidelity and the negative introspection of oneself. “Am I not good enough for you, is there something wrong with me,” are the first words exalted in this track. Ethel compares herself to the woman her lover left her for by examining every part of herself and how it wasn't enough to get her lover to stay.  

“Casings” sounds almost hauntingly sinister to me, because it begs the question of how far we are willing to go in the destruction of ourselves to prove our worth to a partner who never cared about the cost in the first place.  

Track three, “Lilies,” features Mercy Necromancy and tells a story of Ethel falling in love with another man who she believes she will end up hurting just as she was previously hurt. This is my least favorite song on the album from a sound standpoint; I believe the use of high pitched autotunes to Ethel and Mercy’s voices could have been avoided here as it doesn’t match the overall tone and scope of the album.  

Track four, “Head In The Wall,” is a song about traumatic reflection, the ways in which we choose to process that trauma  and the many different time periods throughout our lives, sometimes positive, sometimes volatile.  

This track hits close to home for me as someone who has also felt like many different versions of myself to the point where I don’t even feel like myself at all sometimes. 

Track five, “Knuckle Velvet,” features YAH WAV by delivering a catchy harmony that is similar in tone and themes of domestic abuse as heard in “Sunday Morning.” This song gained traction on Tik Tok for a little while but didn’t reach the same virality as the others.  

The final and most beautiful track on the album is the title track, “Golden Age” . I think this was another intentional move by Ethel, as this song feels almost like an ode to the passage of time as well as the emotions felt in that time.  

This track is the most uplifting in sound and feels similar to the relief felt after a detrimental chapter in the book of life.  

Ethel Cain is by far the most talented, most misunderstood and the most talented lyricist of this generation, and I will die on that hill.