Review of "Amber Waves" by Ethel Cain from the album Perverts
A Slow Burn of Ethereal Beauty
Ethel Cain's "Amber Waves" is a breathtaking exploration of emotional complexity, filled with ethereal beauty and a hauntingly surreal atmosphere. Spanning an epic 11 and a half minutes, the song is a slow burn that weaves its way into the listener’s psyche. With its lush soundscape, the track presents a delicate blend of reverb-laden choir effects, soft guitar plucks, and Cain's wistful, angelic voice. The music feels like a gentle wave, gradually rising and falling with each passing moment, echoing the narrative's gradual descent into longing and despair. The way the song slowly envelops the listener in its dreamy atmosphere makes it impossible to resist its pull, despite its sprawling length.
The Narrative: Yearning, Addiction, and Loss
The song’s lyrical content is steeped in poignant imagery, adding to its emotional depth. Teased by Cain herself in April 2024, "Amber Waves" was anticipated with great excitement. The title itself evokes a sense of nostalgia, referencing Katherine Lee Bates' 1895 anthem “America the Beautiful,” and juxtaposing it with the macabre undertones of the 1990 cult classic film The Reflecting Skin, which Cain incorporated into a video snippet for the track. Just as the film’s characters grapple with an unsettling reality, "Amber Waves" portrays the internal conflict of a person caught between euphoric highs and the inevitable crash of addiction, offering a poignant meditation on yearning and loss.
The Climax of Perverts' Emotional Journey
The narrative within Perverts leads to its cataclysmic climax in "Amber Waves," where Cain’s protagonist—who has been on a journey toward self-realization—becomes fixated on the fleeting beauty of the ‘divine theatre.’ The addiction to that euphoria and the hollow chase for it forms the central theme of the song. Cain’s vocals perfectly capture the essence of this emotional rollercoaster, as her voice alternates between tender vulnerability and anguished strength. Lines such as “The devil I know is the devil I want” reflect a cyclical nature of pain and pleasure, evoking a sense of both surrender and defiance.
Cinematic Inspiration: A Haunting, Surreal Soundscape
Musically, "Amber Waves" draws inspiration from the eerie, ethereal tone of The Reflecting Skin. The echoing guitar and Cain’s fragile vocals mirror the haunting cries of Seth Dove in the film’s final moments, giving the track a surreal, almost cinematic quality. The melancholic instrumentation, with its subdued yet powerful presence, intertwines with Cain’s voice, creating a sonic landscape that feels as if it’s both receding and drawing closer. This atmosphere elevates the track into something beyond a traditional song, transforming it into a sonic narrative that mirrors the emotional depths of the character's experience.
A Stunning Conclusion to Perverts' Journey
Ultimately, "Amber Waves" is a powerful culmination of the themes explored in Perverts, drawing the listener into a narrative of beauty, despair, and longing. Ethel Cain has crafted a deeply emotional and immersive piece that stretches the boundaries of what a song can express. The final track on Perverts, it marks a stunning conclusion to the EP, leaving the listener both haunted and mesmerized by the aching beauty of Cain’s storytelling. It's a song that lingers, echoing long after it fades, much like the amber waves themselves.
Listen to Ethel Cain Amber Waves
Ethel Cain Amber Waves Lyrics Meaning Explained
The meaning of Amber Waves by Ethel Cain is a poignant exploration of addiction, emotional numbness, and the destructive cycle of self-deception. Through hauntingly vivid lyrics, Cain delves into the experience of using substances as a form of escape, where fleeting moments of euphoria mask deeper emotional wounds. The phrase "amber waves" serves as a powerful metaphor for both the seductive allure and the eventual emptiness of addiction, reflecting the narrator’s internal struggle between craving relief and grappling with the isolation it causes. The song intricately captures the conflict between self-destruction and the longing for connection, portraying the narrator’s inability to break free from the very forces that bind them.
The Symbolism of Amber Waves
In Ethel Cain's song "Amber Waves," the lyrics reflect a deep exploration of addiction, self-destruction, and the emotional turmoil of love lost. The phrase “Amber waves at me” has a symbolic resonance, with "Amber" personified as a representation of love cast aside in pursuit of drug-induced euphoria. This notion aligns with the idea that the narrator’s obsession with the sensations of intoxication overrides everything else, including love and meaningful human connections. It echoes the theme of addiction as a cycle, where the search for the same intensity of euphoria becomes an endless pursuit, one that leads to isolation and catatonia. The imagery of "amber waves" may also be interpreted as a reference to the popular line "amber waves of grain" from "America the Beautiful," evoking a sense of nostalgic beauty and loss, where the waves represent not just the beauty of the countryside, but the inevitability of time passing by, forever out of reach for the narrator.
Self-Deception and Emotional Numbness
The lyrics “Days go by, time on without me / I'll be alright, I'll be alright” speak to the narrator’s numbing of emotions through drugs. The repetition of "I'll be alright" reflects a dissociative state, where the narrator lies to themselves about their well-being as a way to avoid confronting the overwhelming pain and helplessness. This dissociation mirrors the symptoms of catatonia, a neuropsychiatric state where individuals withdraw and disconnect from reality. The self-assurance of being "alright" is, in fact, hollow, a repetition to mask the underlying crisis. The echo of this sentiment in "You’ve still got time, waiting on the other side" emphasizes the narrator’s belief that they can still escape their addiction, even though they are already deep within its grasp.
The Long Road to Denial
In the lyric "I take the long way home," there’s an idiomatic reference to the journey of self-discovery, or perhaps the avoidance of facing reality. The "long way home" can also symbolize the prolonged path the narrator takes to avoid confronting their addiction and the painful truths about their life. This theme is continued in the line “Shaking the bottle and letting them roll,” which is a direct nod to drug use, implying the narrator’s reliance on sedatives or pills to numb their pain and maintain control over their emotions.
The Familiar Devil of Addiction
The phrase "Cause the devil I know / Is the devil I want" is a powerful expression of the narrator's preference for the familiar pain of addiction over the unknown. This lyric suggests that the addiction, despite its destructive nature, is something the narrator craves because it provides a sense of temporary relief. The addictive cycle has become their preferred "devil" over facing the vulnerability and discomfort of confronting their emotions, including the loss of love.
Emotional Detachment and Numbness
When the lyrics shift to “Is it not fun, oh / To feel many other ways? / What you do / Is nothing to me, to me,” there’s a stark acknowledgment of the numbness that comes with addiction. The "many other ways" refer to the varying states of euphoria or detachment that the narrator seeks, but which ultimately provide no true fulfillment. The line "What you do is nothing to me" reflects the narrator's emotional detachment, indicating that even acts of love or care from others are rendered meaningless in the face of their addiction.
Self-Delusion and Fragility
The line “I still kick rocks when the walking is good / And pretend at the chain link that I am the wood” uses the idiom "kick rocks," which typically means to leave or run away from something. Here, it suggests the narrator’s tendency to push away from positive moments in life, still finding comfort in their addiction. The "chain link" metaphor serves as a representation of the narrator's fragile state—thin, exposed, and caught in a cycle of emptiness, while the act of pretending to be "the wood" suggests a desire for strength and stability that the narrator can’t achieve. This duality of self-delusion is evident in their drug use, where they aim to escape the harshness of reality.
Surrendering to Emptiness
As the song progresses, the narrator's internal struggle becomes more evident in the line “Saying ‘Take me, I ain't gonna scream’ / Yet here I am empty.” The narrator is surrendering themselves to the emptiness that addiction brings, asking for the escape that it promises, but realizing that the void it leaves behind only deepens their sense of emptiness. This emptiness extends to the realization that love, once a comforting force, has now become a casualty of the addiction, further isolating the narrator.
The Illusion of Self-Assurance
The chorus returns with the line “I'll be alright / Me and my amber waves,” which reinforces the narrator's attempt to convince themselves that they will be fine despite the overwhelming sense of loss. The repeated mantra of "I'll be alright" is a desperate form of self-reassurance, highlighting their struggle to reconcile with the reality of their self-destructive behavior. The repeated mention of "amber waves" symbolizes the narrator’s deep reliance on the comfort of their addiction, even as it leads them further into despair.
Realization and Self-Destruction
Finally, the line “Maybe it's true / You were nothing to me” suggests that the narrator’s internal conflict is now reaching a peak. It references the disconnect between the narrator’s love for someone and their addiction, which has consumed their capacity to care for anything else. This line may also be a reflection on the protagonist’s mental state in the film The Reflecting Skin, which was initially connected to the song’s working title "I Keep the Angel." It portrays a cycle of self-deception and emotional numbness, where the narrator’s realization that their lover means nothing to them is overshadowed by their drug-induced haze.
The Hollow Finality
The song ends on a haunting note, with the repeated affirmation that everything will be "alright," despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This tragic self-deception marks the song as a meditation on addiction’s ability to distort reality, where the quest for euphoria is ultimately self-defeating. The final state of "catatonia" encapsulates the emotional and physical withdrawal from life and love, leaving only the hollow remnants of a once-vibrant connection. The track is a poignant portrayal of how addiction warps perception, making it impossible for the narrator to return to the past, or to find solace outside of the temporary relief provided by their "amber waves."
Ethel Cain Amber Waves Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Before she leaves
Amber waves at me
Days go by, time on without me
I'll be alright, I'll be alright
I take the long way home
Shaking the bottle and letting them roll
'Cause the devil I know
Is the devil I want
[Chorus]
Is it not fun, oh
To feel many other ways?
What you do
Is nothing to me, to me
[Verse 2]
I still kick rocks when the walking is good
And pretend at the chain link that I am the wood
As I'm leaning my head back
Saying "Take me, I ain't gonna scream"
Yet here I am empty
Watching love of mine leave
But I'll be alright
Me and my amber waves
I'll be alright, I'll be alright, I'll be alright
[Chorus]
Is it not fun, oh
To feel many other ways?
What you do
Is nothing to me
Is it not fun, oh
In the catatonia
Maybe it's true
You were nothing to me
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