Content warning: sexual themes, abuse, trauma, suicide

The ability of music to create an atmosphere is one of its most vital attributes: for decades, movies have used their scores to accentuate tension and release, and commercial albums have only grown more atmospheric with the rise of accessible sound design tools. Nonetheless, there’s a distinct difference between good ambient music and your average white noise playlist, even if the line continues to blur. Enter Ethel Cain’s 2025 EP ‘Perverts,’ which has captivated critics with its mix of dark, ominous drones and harrowing musings on sex and religion. It’s certainly mesmerising in its bleakest moments, providing an ever deeper exploration of its lyrical themes than Anhedönia’s breakout record ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ could provide. Nonetheless, we can’t help but see ‘Perverts’ as little more than a stepping stone for such a promising artist, plagued by far too many pacing issues to curry favour with us.

Anhedönia has never shied away from heavy themes, exploring religious and generational trauma through the eyes of her “dark evil twin” Ethel Cain— though ‘Perverts’ doesn’t follow the same canon as ‘Preacher’s Daughter,’ it nonetheless dives headfirst into similar issues surrounding sexuality and religious guilt, albeit through a more detached lens. The opening rendition of ‘Nearer My God to Thee,’ heard distorted and suitably ominous, contrasts against the following criticisms of hedonism in a powerful, jarring manner— “Heaven has forsaken the masturbator” describes many of the EP’s themes succinctly, though Ahnedönia will explore them much more thoroughly across this hour-and-a-half journey. The record switches between a plethora of viewpoints (or ‘perverts’ as it were), frequently turning to real world examples for its twisted imagery. Lead single ‘Punish,’ for instance, names killer Gary Plauché, providing a dark backdrop behind the themes of self-abuse that define the track. The lyrics found below are certainly poetic and evocative, but take on a far more haunting aspect within this context.

“Only God knows, only God would believe

That I was an angel, but they made me leave”

‘Vacillator,’ similarly, appears almost romantic in its arrangement— though it’s the only song on the EP to feature drums, it nonetheless achieves a weightless feel as the minimalist guitars and soothing vocal layers find their place amongst a syrupy, reverb-heavy mix. This inviting sound design only further increases the horror of the track’s themes, which portray an abuser’s perspective in a relationship.

“I like that sound you make

When you’re clawing at the edge and without escape

If you love me, keep it to yourself”

This central theme of abuse is further expanded upon on ‘Amber Waves,’ which highlights an extremely despondent, detached viewpoint— though the song was originally penned for a different project, it nonetheless fits into ‘Perverts’ seamlessly, providing a chilling capstone to an EP full of both touching and terrifying moments.

“Maybe it’s true

You were nothing to me

I can’t feel anything”

Despite the general sense of dread and despair these lyrics create, ‘Perverts’ is far from flawless in its thematic explorations, often feeling weighed down in an overabundance of sentimental melancholy. Chief among these is the closing speech on ‘Etienne,’ which undercuts a poignant instrumental track to tell the hilariously overblown tale of a runner’s continued failure to commit suicide. The record is also frequently bogged down in pointless lyrical repetition, returning to a shockingly shallow pool of ideas far too often— ‘Housofpsychoticwomn’ is particularly prone to this issue, with its central refrain of “I love you” feeling more and more redundant as the fourteen-minute track winds on, and on, and on.

A similar quality gap exists on the musical side of the EP, with Anhedönia’s foray into drone delivering mixed results. We may as well address the elephant in the room: forty minutes of this ninety minute listen are fully devoted to ambient soundscapes, characterised by low hums and mechanical clunking. These three tracks— ‘Perverts,’ ‘’Housofpsychoticwomn’ and ‘Pulldrone’— represent the absolute worst stretches of the record, completely devoid of the melancholic melodies or strong voice leading that defines the rest of the Ethel Cain discography. Though the atmosphere sustained is impressive, the listener is nonetheless left waiting for more content of substance throughout these cuts: how much praise can we realistically be expected to heap onto such lethargic, dull stretches of the runtime?

The project is undoubtedly at its best when the despondent, eery atmosphere created in these drone segments is combined with Anhedönia’s penchant for sorrowful, voice-led songwriting— in many ways, ‘Perverts’ is not unlike ‘Preacher’s Daughter,’ though its certainly a more characterful and sonically cohesive experience. As we mentioned, great swathes of the tracklist deal in surprisingly soothing, ethereal tones— though cuts like ‘Amber Waves’ may be highly repetitive, the use of more melodic elements do wonders to keep them feeling fresh and immersive. Even mostly-ambient tracks like ‘Onanist’ or ‘Thatorchia’ are elevated by their grim notes of harmony that lurk under the surface, and the former benefits greatly from some of the most impressive, distorted sound design on the project (though every track is uplifted by that characterful production).

The irony behind the EP label on ‘Perverts is not due to its unconventional length, but because, despite its runtime, the project only has an EP’s worth of ideas. All eyes should be peeled for the next Ethel Cain release, as Anhedönia’s approach to dark, haunting mood pieces has improved leaps-and-bounds— should the next album combine the immersive sound design of this project with the more digestible songwriting and better pacing of ‘Preacher’s Daughter,’ there’s little doubt that the current EP will be left as a relic of the past. For all its impressive moments, ‘Perverts’ is a deeply flawed listen, plagued by an overabundance of wasted time: we’ll be chewing on these lyrical ideas for a while yet, though these boring soundscapes may be longer still.