One thing Ethel Cain is going to do without fail is drop demos. She used to upload unreleased tracks to SoundCloud and Tumblr, but has since deleted those accounts. Still, most of her unreleased work has been archived on YouTube by devoted fans, so we can continue to appreciate Cain’s delightfully disturbing, evocative artistry.
“Crying During Sex”
“Crying During Sex” was initially featured as a B-side on Ethel Cain’s 2021 EP Inbred. It was also included on the limited run of CDs that was released. While Inbred didn’t fit directly into the Ethel Cain canon like Preacher’s Daughter and Willoughby Tucker did, it still pulled from her darkly lonely and religious Americana influences. This demo in particular features familiar imagery of self-destruction and denial. It also touches on a desperate need for intimacy. There, the narrator describes her overwhelming issues that must be faced before that can be achieved.
“Wrestling In Dirt Pits”
“Wrestling In Dirt Pits” was uploaded as a demo to Ethel Cain’s Tumblr in 2021. There she mentioned she’d recently rediscovered her appreciation for Drive-By Truckers, and sampled the song “Angels and Fuselage.” Many fans speculated that this song is related to Vera Cain, mother of Ethel in the overarching storyline. Yet, there hasn’t been any confirmation that it will show up on any future albums. Still, it captures the nihilistic, rotten view of doomed love that Cain has perfected. A visceral example comes in lines like “Fucking my guts like he hates me / Spitting his love in my mouth” and “Unlike Tammy I can’t stand my man.”
“Saddle Up!”
“Saddle Up!” was released as a standalone single in 2019 under the name White Silas. While Ethel Cain has since stated that she hates this song, I think it’s just clever and raunchy enough to warrant a mention. Featuring sirens, weird moaning, and lines like “Mama always said use common sense / I took one look at him and we ain’t used a condom since,” this little interlude in Ethel Cain’s catalog feels like something she needed to exorcise from her creative process. A fan in the YouTube comments said it sounds like she was briefly possessed by the spirit of Ayesha Erotica, which is the only opinion that matters about this song, frankly.
“WellWater”
“Wellwater” was a demo from around 2023, initially intended to appear on Ethel Cain’s 2025 EP Perverts. It was eventually scrapped and replaced by “Thatorchia” on the final track listing, but Cain stated that she still loved “Wellwater.” She reworked the demo and released it for fans instead. Originally, it was titled “000,” with the reworked single titled “000.1/Wellwater.” It’s an instrumental track that serves as a window into the drone and ambient work Cain was doing at the time. These explorations became the backbone of Perverts. Tracks like “Wellwater” and the entirety of that EP served mainly as a playground for Cain to experiment with sound and genre. They don’t fit into the overall Ethel Cain canon, but are important entries nonetheless.
Photo by Kieran Frost/Redferns
The post 4 Gorgeous Ethel Cain Demos That Should Have Made It To Albums appeared first on VICE.
