Ethel Cain at the Roundhouse review: a hauntingly epic performance from the southern gothic sweetheart
Last night, the Roundhouse swarmed with gently gothic individuals, many with freshly dyed cherry-red hair; girls wearing floor length prairie dresses and ribbons in their plaited hair. There were also a significant number of people wearing jorts with matching denim waistcoats.
This meant only one thing: southern gothic sweetheart Ethel Cain was in town, and she delivered a hauntingly epic performance worthy of the screeching applause which reverberated throughout the venue.
Hayden Silas Horner, otherwise known as Ethel Cain, was born and raised in Florida to a Southern Baptist family. Her father was a deacon, so it certainly makes sense that her music is inundated with religious themes.
The artist’s first EP under the moniker Ethel Cain, Carpet Bed, was released in 2019 and was followed a few months later by Golden Age. Her third EP, Inbred, came out in 2021. Yet it was the release of her critically acclaimed debut, narrative concept album Preacher’s Daughter in 2022 that transformed the indie artist into a household name.
Cain’s set list last night was a healthy cross-section of her discography, with the singer appeasing loyal fans by performing songs like Crush off her hit EP Inbred, rather than delivering a simple run-through of her most recent album.
During the set, the performer played a sprinkling of new music including the first song of the night, Dust Bowl, and later renditions of Amber Waves and Punish. The singer introduced all three as “slow” songs which “invite stillness”. Each offered transcendent vocals and synthy guitar reminiscent of her earlier work but were far less violent in tone than the murderous plot of Preacher’s Daughter.
Despite some technical difficulties, visuals of southern American landscapes danced behind the performer, images of porches and ponds interspersed with Cain’s hair blowing in a breeze that felt warm just by looking at it.
Playing her song Family Tree marked the beginning of the character Ethel Cain’s story. By the end, Cain had immersed herself in it, sat crouched at the lip of the stage purring those signature, haunting vocals into the microphone.
Cain’s sublime, ascendant vocals were met with hollers from the audience, with fans whooping “yes mother!” and “you’re so hot” at regular intervals.
Her effortless vocal control was like another Roundhouse alum, Caroline Polachek, with both singers similarly capable of making seemingly casual vocal riffs sound like masterpieces.
By the time Thoroughfare rolled around – a whopping nine-and-a-half-minute ballad – the crowd was beyond emotional. So much so, that someone fainted despite the largely tame, slow nature of the music.
Later, Sun Bleached Flies had the audience screaming the only lyric of her own that Cain has tattooed, “God loves you, but not enough to save you”.
After an improvised rendition of Strangers – performed after an audience member’s request even though the band hadn’t rehearsed it – Cain’s encore proved a pop-infused delight, beginning with a cover of Kim Carnes’ Eighties hit Bette Davis Eyes and flowing seamlessly into Cain’s biggest song, American Teenager.
The flawless performance of her band paired with Cain’s ethereal choir-inspired voice made even her longest tracks (there are a lot of long ones) fly by all too quickly.
A highly unique tour de force who moved through ballad after ballad like a seasoned professional, Ethel Cain seemed a veteran of decades, not five years.
After the 12-song set list was delivered with a casual, formidable ease, the lights went down on an electric evening which brought even the non-religious a little bit closer to God.
Roundhouse, June 10; roundhouse.org.uk
