Methyl Ethel

Taking their name from a colorless, sweet-smelling organic compound frequently used as an industrial solvent, Aussie indie rockers Methyl Ethel employ a heady blend of breezy dream pop and soaring psych-rock that lands somewhere between Tame Impala, Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and MGMT. Essentially the project of singer/songwriter/guitarist Jake Webb with a backing band, Methyl Ethel became a Top 20-charting act in their native Australia with second album Everything Is Forgotten, issued in 2016. Triage duplicated that chart success before the project’s fourth long-player, the sleeker, theatrical Are You Haunted?, appeared in 2022.
Based out of Perth, Methyl Ethel originally started in 2013 as a four-track recorder project by Webb. The first two EPs were purely solo affairs. The first proper band outing, Oh Inhuman Spectacle, was also Methyl Ethel’s inaugural long-player. It was released in May 2016 via 4AD Records and established the lineup of Webb, bassist Thom Stewart, and drummer Chris Wright. They wasted no time starting work on their sophomore record, and Everything Is Forgotten arrived in early 2017. The band enlisted James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco, Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys) to co-produce the album, a punchier set that reached number 16 in Australia. Methyl Ethel incorporated new wave influences into their complex sound with the Webb-produced Triage, which followed in 2019 and went as high as number 11 on Australia’s album chart. Stella Donnelly guested on the single “Proof” from the project’s mostly danceable fourth long-player, 2022′s Are You Haunted? ~ James Christopher Monger & Marcy Donelson