#thank you hayden for writing the most complex and engaging and musically fantastic album of all time

[mechangelx]

wait. is Ethel... going through the circles of hell in Preacher's Daughter?

first circle: limbo / family tree (intro) Ethel isn't quite an actor in the album yet, but is in a transitory state ("remind me of who I used to be")

second circle: lust / american teenager though not exactly lust, the central theme of american teenager feels like longing. Ethel wants an america that doesn't exist.

third circle: gluttony / a house in nebraska this one lines up the least. if I'm stretching (this is a stretch), gluttony is bigger yearning than lust is, and this is the song with the most overwhelming sense of desire.

fourth circle: greed / western nights bank robbery

fifth circle: anger / family tree "I'm just a child but I'm not above violence / my mama raised me better than that"

sixth circle: heresy / hard times I THOUGHT this one lined up the least initially, but heresy (betrayal of doctrine or norms) makes a lot of sense -- this is a kind of abuse that goes against every single moral, legal, religious, and familial idea.

seventh circle: violence / thoroughfare kidnapping

eighth circle: fraud / gibson girl this is where it becomes apparent that Isaiah had lied about who he was

ninth circle: treachery / ptolemaea lots of people have already said this song is about the ninth circle of hell

so.... when Ethel dies in august underground / televangelism, is that also her escaping hell? much to think about.