{"product_id":"ethel-cain-willoughby-tucker-ill-always-love-you","title":"Ethel Cain - Willoughby Tucker I'll Always Love You","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFlorida-born multimedia artist Ethel Cain returns with her sophomore album ‘Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You’. A \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eprequel\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003eto the critically acclaimed ‘Preacher's Daughter’, the new album recounts the story of Ethel's first love, Willoughby Tucker, and their humid, laden romance. Hayden Anhedonia, the creative force behind the entire Ethel Cain project, has spent the past several years assembling the album in her home studios from Coraopolis, PA to Tallahassee, FL, all the while selling out tours and playing festivals worldwide, cementing herself as a singular artistic voice on the rise.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlbum of The Week - Staff Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt’s 2025, and pop music has changed. You might think, “Yes, but hasn’t it always been changing?” Of course, but the past few years have seen a shift that feels different, largely driven by streaming’s dominance as the primary way people discover and consume music. The album as a single, cohesive work, best experienced in one sitting, still exists, but its cultural function has evolved.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"569\" data-end=\"1117\"\u003eStreaming has dismantled many of the boundaries that once dictated listening habits. Genre lines, subcultural rules, and niche loyalties now blur with a swipe. One minute you’re in hyperpop territory, the next you’re deep in folk balladry. The definition of a hit has also changed. Where labels once selected singles, with big-budget videos to push them into public consciousness, today’s hits can emerge organically, powered by listener behaviours and trends. A replay button and a viral TikTok clip can propel an album’s deep cut into ubiquity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1119\" data-end=\"1600\"\u003eThe tools of music-making have also shifted. Gone is the necessity of costly studio sessions, hired producers, or session musicians. With a laptop, a bedroom, and a vision, an artist can craft a fully realised work. This democratisation of both listening and creation has opened spaces for many singular voices to thrive, like Ethel Cain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1942\" data-end=\"2642\"\u003eThis week, Ethel Cain, the musical moniker of Florida-born Hayden Anhedönia, releases her second studio album,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2051\" data-end=\"2092\"\u003eWilloughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You\u003c\/em\u003e. A thematic prequel to 2022’s breakthrough\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2136\" data-end=\"2157\"\u003ePreacher’s Daughter\u003c\/em\u003e, it once again follows the Ethel Cain character through a deeply cinematic, often unsettling vision of small-town America in the Bible Belt, a landscape steeped in pain, longing, and the dream of escape. Stylistically, Cain can be likened to the Southern Gothic fiction of Flannery O’Connor and the later works of Cormac McCarthy and Gillian Flynn. But go back further and you might find echoes of the Brontë sisters in her dark romanticism and recurring themes of isolation and escape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2644\" data-end=\"3148\"\u003eCain’s music may be quickly categorised as pop, but with the release of this latest record, that label feels increasingly insufficient, and pretty much incorrect. Between\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2788\" data-end=\"2807\"\u003eWilloughby Tucker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2812\" data-end=\"2833\"\u003ePreacher’s Daughter\u003c\/em\u003e, Cain released the digital-only album\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2872\" data-end=\"2882\"\u003ePerverts\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2025), which plunged listeners into the void-like realms of dark ambient and drone. On\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"2971\" data-end=\"2990\"\u003eWilloughby Tucker\u003c\/em\u003e, her productions are intricate and expansive, drawing more heavily from ambient, drone, post-rock, slowcore, and country, as well as traditional pop forms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3150\" data-end=\"3825\"\u003eAt its most immediately accessible, the noir balladry of Lana Del Rey shadows tracks like\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eNettles\u003c\/em\u003e,  a lyrically vivid, sonically panoramic piece of ambient Americana, and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eJanie\u003c\/em\u003e, which utilises the stripped textures of slowcore indie-rock. Yet these immediate cuts sit alongside weightier, more abstract works. The glacial instrumentals\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWilloughby’s Theme\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWilloughby’s Interlude\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003edrift in patient, post-rock ambience, while\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eF**k Me Eyes\u003c\/em\u003e, in the lineage of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"3621\" data-end=\"3642\"\u003ePreacher’s Daughter\u003c\/em\u003e’s\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmerican Teenager\u003c\/em\u003e, offers the album’s most direct pop moment with a shimmering blend of synth-pop and dream-pop whose layered vocals recall the poppier side of the Cocteau Twins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"3827\" data-end=\"4249\"\u003eOther standouts include the plaintive slow-burn of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDust Bowl\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand the haunting melancholy of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Knock at the Door\u003c\/em\u003e, which begins with bare acoustic guitar and eerie synths before mutating into a spectral coda reminiscent of ’90s ambient pioneers Labradford and Stars of the Lid. The same can be heard in the desolate sprawl of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRadio Towers\u003c\/em\u003e, a patient, foreboding piece of pure atmosphere that plunges the album into shadow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"4251\" data-end=\"4984\"\u003eBy the time\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRadio Towers\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efades, the record has nearly reached the hour mark, yet Cain isn’t quite finished. The final two tracks,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTempest\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWaco, Texas\u003c\/em\u003e, account for the closing 25 minutes, pushing\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"4449\" data-end=\"4468\"\u003eWilloughby Tucker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e…\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003einto truly epic territory.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTempest\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eunleashes a crushing wall of doom-metal sludge, its tidal guitars swallowing distant, layered wails of desperation. It is overwhelming but also cathartic, a sonic storm before the final calm of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWaco, Texas\u003c\/em\u003e. Here, the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"4727\" data-end=\"4746\"\u003eWilloughby Tucker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003estory comes to a crushing close in 1993, where the characters of Ethel and Willoughby are interspersed, or perhaps mirrored, in the Waco tragedy, as the intense intimacy of the star-crossed lovers collides with the confines of reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DAUGHTERS OF CAIN RECORDS","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Black Vinyl + Limited Print","offer_id":53206796599623,"sku":"TRI-62964","price":34.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl","offer_id":53206796763463,"sku":"TRI-62963","price":34.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":53206797091143,"sku":"TRI-62962","price":14.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"Indies Exclusive Vinyl with Print","offer_id":54075899347271,"sku":"TRI-74387","price":34.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0931\/9779\/5655\/files\/d94dba6a6384665978a6e20a064f4247.jpg?v=1769375671","url":"https:\/\/towerrecords.ie\/products\/ethel-cain-willoughby-tucker-ill-always-love-you","provider":"Tower Records Dublin Ireland","version":"1.0","type":"link"}