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Frontman Jake Webb’s indie sensibilities occasionally show through the insatiable dance grooves on second album Everything Is Forgotten

Review | Quirky trio Methyl Ethel give dreamy dance pop an electronic gloss

Frontman Jake Webb’s indie sensibilities occasionally show through the insatiable dance grooves on second album Everything Is Forgotten

Mark Peters
Methyl Ethel
Everything Is Forgotten
4AD

On the follow-up to their 2016 debut, Oh Inhuman Spectacle,quirky Australian art-pop trio Methyl Ethel take a confident leap away from were the solo home recordings of frontman and mastermind Jake Webb. Enlisting the help of a big-name producer like James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Klaxons) hasn’t hurt, the Simian Mobile Disco man immediately bringing an electronic shimmer to the dreamy pop, right from the 70s synth intro and funky bass of opener Drink Wine. The beat remains uptempo on jangly lead single No. 28, Webb’s elegant falsetto bringing a lightness to dark subject matter, before the strutting twisted-pop of Ubu drops the biggest earworm of the year so far, with Webb repeatedly asking “Why d’ya have to go and cut your hair?” until it buries itself deep inside the listener’s head. Webb’s alt-indie roots occasionally show themselves, as on the sombre acoustic ballad Act of Contrition, but they are only short interludes in the swirling dreaminess and irrepressible dance grooves.

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