INTERVIEW: Methyl Ethyl On Their New Album ‘Are You Haunted?’
Interview by Wes Sukh.
Methyl Ethel return with their fourth album ‘Are You Haunted’ and after giving it a spin, our very own Ungrained journo Wes Sukh, caught up with Jake Webb to chat all things lyrical, production and movies.
Packed with thematic lyricism, the album dances track to track, packed with hints of pop, rock house and synth.
Check out Ungrained's deep dive into the album and join in on our chat with the artist behind it all…
Answers by Jake Webb
Hey Jake! Firstly thank you so much for taking the time to chat to us - we know you must be chockers getting ready for the album rollout. Could you tell us a little about the process that went into this LP. You see a lot of Aussie bands these days having to work around the challenges of recording through iso and interrupted sessions. Was this one relatively smooth sailing?
JAKE: Hey great to chat. This album was really special actually in many ways. One way that stands out was that I returned to work in a studio space that I actually started out recording the first Methyl Ethel songs in. It quite literally feels like the process came full circle for me over the last couple of years making ‘Are You Haunted?’. Because touring was no longer an option, I decided to just work away on this project 6 days a week, between 9am and 6pm. It was so great to have a structured life for the first time in a while, I was able to just focus all my energy into the record.
Listening through the album, the production shifts song to song, and seems to grow in complexity as it blends genres - yet somehow you seem to stay really authentic to your gothic and gazey roots - did you have a sound in mind going into the project or did it sort of develop?
JAKE: The sound always finds its way to me at some point. I spent a long time working on the song, Castigat Ridendo Mores. Once I finished it, it basically became the touchstone of the album. I fell in love with the tone of it, wanting to splash woodwinds, strings and piano throughout whilst maintaining some spaciousness. All pretty nerdy, but I hope that answers your question.
Both the lyricism and production are super multifaceted on the album, yet this project comes together super harmoniously. Your new track "Proof" (featuring Stella Donnelly) features lyrics which seem to question the very fabric of reality in a world divided amongst science and political fantasy. Backing off our last question, did you first play with these themes through the lyrical process or was it a reflection of the sounds you were working on?
JAKE: Although the writing and production happens somewhat simultaneously, the themes were chosen independently of the music. I like to sort of let the two elements play off each other, create a bit of counterpoint.
JAKE: Perhaps it’s an attempt at being subversive by baiting the hook with something playful, the coup de grace being whatever theme I’ve snuck into the meat.
The complex story-based nature of the album is not only testament to the development of your music but clearly reflects your ability to insert almost a sense of narrative to the songs. With the tracks covering subject matter from public discord to the concept of social media becoming a cheap three-dimensional cityscape - is it difficult to translate this to a music video?
JAKE:The most challenging thing, I find, with creating music videos is trying to stick to the ideas within the music. I’m really excited by filmmaking, visual imagery is this whole other dimension. So often I’ll get excited by a visual concept that really has no direct link with the record. This being said, I’m so proud of the video we made for Proof. To me it’s the most direct distillation of ideas I’ve had over a record onto a screen. It was so fun to make too.
A silly question but I have to ask - so many of these new tracks are really ambient and have a really strong neo noire vibe - if there ever was a movie you could soundtrack what would it be?
JAKE: Great question, It’s hard to pick a film that already exists because the soundtrack is so often already amazing, I wouldn’t want to change a thing. I watched a Wim Wenders film on mute recently, just reading the subtitles when in bed. Kings of the Road.
Check out the full and in depth album review by Wes Sukh here.
+ STREAM ‘ARE YOU HAUNTED?’