Methyl Ethel – the musical project of Western Australian alt-pop eccentrist Jake Webb today releases the highly anticipated fourth album, Are You Haunted? . Ghosting, the opening track of the record is an unexpected but delightfully playful statement, piquing the listeners’ interest from the get-go. An operatic vocal swirls around a beautiful meandering piano melody, building to a multi-layered crescendo before morphing into the driving beats of Proof, one of the album’s most contagious tunes (which features the feel-good vocal vibes of Stella Donnelly). It’s a classic one-two sucker punch, hooking you inescapably into the album. For the remainder of the album, Webb plays uninhibited with space and structure, flitting between dance hooks, epic choruses, intriguing sound effects, lush strings, electro beats and other studio trickery, which he’s honed to perfection in his home studio laboratory in the West. Longtime Methyl Ethel fans might not be surprised at the quality and variety to be found on this fine recording but Are You Haunted? presents a perfect opportunity for the rest of us to acknowledge an artist developing their craft to a point where we must all sit up and take notice.
Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips caught up with Methyl Ethel’s Jake Webb via zoom to chat about the creation of his new album Are You Haunted?.
Methyl Ethel’s nine-track new album contains previous singles ‘Neon Cheap’ and ‘Matters’, as well as the new single, ‘Proof’ featuring Stella Donnelly, out now.
‘Proof’ is the first Methyl Ethel song to feature an additional singer: in this case, fellow Western Australian art-pop stalwart and one-time Methyl Ethel guitarist, Stella Donnelly. It’s “a song about truth and movies,” offers Webb, a meditation on what constitutes reality in the post-Trump, post-climate-crisis, post-COVID era, in which science and fiercely-guarded fantasy go head to head in the realm of public discourse. But where other Methyl Ethel songs might lean into the blurriness of life and belief, ‘Proof’ struts along as a glittery, funk-infused polemic against nonsense. Webb and Donnelly, tongues-in-cheek, daring the listener to “take a chance on proof (if you want to).”
The collaboration feels natural, almost inevitable. “Stella is one of the most truth-telling artists I’ve ever heard,” comments Webb. “It made for a perfect match.” Donnelly continues, “Working on ‘Proof’ with Jake felt like being invited to the set of your favourite movie, such an insightful and wonderful experience.”
The video, directed by Webb, is a playful, monochromatic affair that takes cues from German Expressionist film and explores the symbolism of black-and-white thinking and the fluidity of “truth” as a concept.
METHYL ETHEL TOUR DATES
Fri 25 Feb – Perth Festival, Perth, WA
Sat 26 Mar – Meadow Festival, Bambra, VIC
Thur 21 April – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, QLD
Fri 22 April – Roundhouse, Sydney, NSW
Wed 27 April – The Night Cat, Melbourne, VIC
Thur 28 April – TheNight Cat, Melbourne, VIC
Fri 29 April – The Night Cat, Melbourne, VIC
Sat 23 July – Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay, NSW
Tickets available now from methylethel.com