Methyl Ethel’s founder Jake Webb wrote, played, and recorded the band’s debut album, Oh Inhuman Spectacle, before presenting it to live bandmates Thom Stewart and Chris Wright. The group hit the ground running; Methy Ethel has close ties to two of Australia’s most internationally popular acts– Tame Impala and Courtney Barnett. They even spent the first part of the year touring around as the opening act for Barnett, allowing Webb to turn his once-hermetic project into a more extroverted live music experience.
“Shadowboxing” is a good introduction to the band’s sound: dark and fairly slow like Echo and the Bunnymen and fuzzy with light vocals like Mitski. It’s an intriguing marriage of West Coast spooky vocals and a dank, 80s underground aesthetic.
“Shadowboxing” appears on Oh Inhuman Spectacle, out now via iTunes and Bandcamp. Methyl Ethel plays tomorrow night, October 21st, at the Mohawk.
–Taylor Wallace // host, Saturdays 2-6 p.m., producer, SoundCheck and Eklektikos
