Ethel Cain has confirmed her new album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, is set for release on August 8th. To preview the project, she has released the first single, “Nettles.” Stream it below.
Billed as Cain’s sophomore album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You is the prequel to her acclaimed 2022 debut, Preacher’s Daughter. Thematically, the album is a reminiscence of the artist’s relationship with her first love, Willoughby Tucker, with some of its songs dating back several years.
“[‘Nettles’] and the last track on the record were both written the same week, the very first week I moved into the house in Alabama where I finished Preacher’s Daughter,” Cain explained in a statement. “In similar fashion to Preacher’s Daughter (specifically ‘A House in Nebraska’ and ‘Strangers’), I wrote what essentially became the beginning and end of the story without realizing it. What were originally just little vignettes of emotion I was feeling at the time ultimately became the tentpoles for a larger narrative.”
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Setting the tone for the new album, “Nettles” is an eight-minute ode to lost love and a wistful rumination on what could have been. Over gothic strings and acoustic guitar, Cain sings: “I can hear them singin’/ ‘To love me is to suffer me,’ and I believe it/ When I lay with you in that auld lang room.”
In August, Cain will kick off her supporting tour across North America and Europe. See the full schedule below and get tickets here.
Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You follows Cain’s experimental ambient project, Perverts, which was released earlier this year and named by Consequence as one of the best albums of 2025 so far.
Ethel Cain 2025 Tour Dates:
08/12 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
08/13 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
08/15 — Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
08/16 — Portland, OR @ Edgefield
08/18 — Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Berkeley
08/20 — Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium
08/21 — Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium
08/22 — Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre
08/24 — Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory
08/25 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
08/26 — Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park
08/28 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
08/29 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
08/30 — Asheville, NC @ Asheville Yards
09/04 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
09/05 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
09/06 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met
09/09 — New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
09/10 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
09/12 — Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
09/13 — Buffalo, NY @ Outer Harbor Live at Terminal B
09/15 — Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
09/16 — Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
09/17 — Detroit, MI @ Masonic Cathedral Theatre
09/19 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
09/20 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed (Fairgrounds)
10/02 — Manchester, GB @ O2 Apollo
10/04 — Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Glasgow
10/06 — London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
10/07 — London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
10/09 — London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
10/10 — London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
10/11 — London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
10/14 — Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
10/15 — Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg
10/16 — Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg
10/18 — Paris, FR @ L’Olympia
10/19 — Paris, FR @ L’Olympia
10/21 — Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk Victoria
10/23 — Berlin, DE @ Huxley’s Neue Welt
10/24 — Hamburg, DE @ Docks
10/25 — Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
10/27 — Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
10/28 — Stockholm, SE @ Fållan
10/31 — Warsaw, PL @ Stodola
11/01 — Prague, CZ @ Roxy
11/02 — Vienna, AT @ Gasometer
11/04 — Zurich, CH @ X-tra
11/05 — Milan, IT @ Alcatraz
11/07 — Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz
11/08 — Madrid, ES @ Teatro Eslava
11/09 — Lisbon, PT @ LAV Warehouse
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