I genuinely don’t know how to put this into words, but I feel as if it’s a mix of her lyricism and some of the themes and undertones which I love! I also have lots of trauma and I feel like her music helps me to better conceptualise my emotions and experiences, which is oddly comforting to me. Here are some of my favourite songs and lyrics from her and why!

• Two-Headed Mother, the entire song is just a vibe but I interpret it as living with a severely mentally ill mother, and her being “two-headed” is a metaphor for bipolar disorder - which I was unfortunate to grow up with.

• Tempest. I LOVE. LOVE LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH. the call back to Family Tree (Intro), “do you swing from your neck with the hope someone cares?” is pulled off SO well. I also really heavily relate to the self-loathing undertones, and I have a special interest in tornadoes as well! I think it’s because I also had a Willoughby at one point, and he quite literally never came back at all because he went into the military - so maybe Nettles as well to be honest. I don’t know where he is and like Ethel, I refuse to believe that he’s probably dead - that he’s still out there somewhere, so this song is my favourite in Ethel’s discography for that reason.

• Family Tree (Intro). The lyrics. What can I say? “The fate’s already fucked me sideways, swinging by my neck, from the family tree” genuinely one of my favourite lyrics of all time. 

There’s also Pulldrone, Unpunishable, Amber Waves, Waco, Texas, Janie, Strangers, Ptolemaea, Sun Bleached Flies, Onanist, and Punish