There's a new idol to worship, and he goes by Cain Culto

Known in the Kentucky evangelical church by Andrew Padilla, Culto's entry point into music was directly linked to his religious raising. Fronting a Christian band, Ecclesia, he suppressed his queerness in favour of conformity before the dissonance become too great to stomach. Re-emerging on the other side of his crisis of identity comes Cain Culto, a bona fide reclamation of sexuality, liberation, and spirituality.

His new persona refers back to his upbringing - the Biblical nod of "Cain" hard to miss, and "Culto" the Spanish word for worship - but the two sides of this coin could not be further apart diametrically. "Cut the bullshit out of my life / like bye bitch I don't have time," he sings on his latest track "Kali Maa", the name of which itself is a reference to the Hindu goddess of time, death, and destruction.

Culto explains how Kali Maa “inspir[es] me to elevate in every area of my life: spiritually, physically, and creatively," and referring back to his own journey of being broken and re-made that “before growth feels like a liberation, it first feels like destruction." As well as its lyrical grist the track's production also harks back to Culto's upbringing, featuring the banjo and dobro he became accustomed to in Kentucky, the Columbian folk roots of his father, and the South Florida underground scene.

“It’s about the future - apocalyptic in imagery, yet ancestral at the same time. I think of my own journey confronting the generational trauma in my family lineage - holding gratitude for the lives that contributed to who I’ve become, while continuing the work they were unable to finish. My parents, mis abuelos, and all the names I don’t know but hold in my body," Culto explains.

In the Church of Culto, the music provides sanctuary "for anyone who can relate to the feeling of being rejected, being ostracized, being misunderstood." He has certainly put in his years as a follower, and it is now his time to ascend to the pedestal.