Mystic rocker Ethel Cain emerged from the swampy marshlands of Florida as a fully formed soothsayer of American counterculture. The eldest of four in a Southern Baptist family led by a deacon father, Cain (born in 1998) was raised on church music before abandoning the institution as a teen and becoming obsessed with powerful female vocalists like Florence Welch. Early releases like 2019’s Golden Age garnered support from artists such as Wicca Phase Springs Eternal and lil aaron, who helped introduce the singer to a wider audience. Cain broke into the mainstream with 2022’s Preacher’s Daughter, a massive album of epic rock anthems augmented by ambient flourishes and haunted folk wanderings. The album finds Cain refining her chief influence and taking the style of Americana documentarians like Lana Del Rey and turning that lens onto the seedy underbelly of the rural South, an overlooked and enchantingly fascinating place.