STACK March 2017 Issue 149

68 / 97

continued
METHYL
ETHEL
Perth three-piece Methyl Ethel return with a heaping of
enigmatic ideas in remarkable new album Everything Is
Forgotten. Zoë Radas spoke to frontman JakeWebb.
You've said that in the
beginning, you never intended
Methyl Ethel to play live shows.
Has the songwriting process
changed in that it’s informed
by the knowledge that you are
actually going to be performing
these songs live?
In short, no. I’ll always serve the
purpose of the song. Whether it’s
impossible to play live or not is a
mission for us as a band. It creates
a good challenge too.
Holly Fewson is responsible
for the album's cover art. She
seems to be fascinated by
the corporeal experience of
femininity, and maybe just the
experience of having a body in
general.What does her work
mean to you?
The corporeal and the idea of
being laid bare are very intentional
themes for me in relation to the
artwork, and the record itself. For
me, these themes should appear
to transcend gender. It’s more
about pure experience,
shared innocence, in
a world of deafening
multiplicity. It’s also
visceral and should be
open to reading from
one and all.
Why did you choose
this particular
painting of Holly’s for
the cover – or, did she
paint it especially for
the album?
Apart from what I said above,
it has some visual elements that
appear to carry over from the first
record. In many ways, for me, she
is the voice of the record.
How did Louise Bourgeois’
Femme Maison paintings inspire
the song of the series’ name, or
was the cause/effect the other
way around?
The painting was the inspiration.
I hope for my songs to speak
in a conversational way about
ideas far bigger than
what is apparent within
them. With reference
to the Bourgeois work,
I hope for things to be
abstracted and seen to be
raw; as if the medium of
song exists on a 2D plane
with ambitions to be
experienced in the third
dimension. At the same
time, it’s all an attempt for
me to understand.
L'Heure Des Sorcieres is a
super evocative track, and very
dynamic – how do you know
what sort of balance to strike
between the quieter bars, the
builds, fuzz effects, and then
that super heavy, almost church
organ sound? Do those sorts of
decisions come quickly, by feel?
I guess by feel, yes. I often open
up old sessions to rediscover how
I did some things. Some old songs
seem to have had hours poured
into them over a long period
of time. Once they are done, it
can sometimes seem daunting
when working on newer material.
It keeps me from getting lazy,
though.
In the Ubu video, the effects
start off really slight. It's like a
trick out of the corner of your
eye when the facial droops
begin.What can you tell us
about the concept behind
the video, and where is that
excellent outdoor structure
that's featured?
That was shot inside the Perth
Concert Hall – a great building.
PAXI wanted to take elements
of a '60s production of Ubu Roi
and weave them into the clip. The
record is supposed to oscillate
between states of pure pop and
dark ambience, with moments
where songs tear themselves
apart. Taking something
straightforward and tilting it an
almost imperceptible amount is
something I love to play with. PAXI
does this with the melting faces
to great effect. It has humour in it,
which I want to keep in everything
I do. There are as many practical
jokes in the work as there are
wanky art references!
Act Of Contrition sounds like
it was recorded outside of the
usual studio set-up (the ambient
hissing!). Is that a result of
clever engineering?
It was. I tracked it all at my
folks' house in Injidup, a few hours
south-west of Perth.
Summer Moon contains effects
that sound like magpies but
could be just really well-
controlled feedback. (But I think
the kookaburras at the end
are real?)Were they a happy
accident or the result of trying
to find a specific sound?
Nice pickup. There aren’t
magpies, that’s engineering.
The evil kookaburras are real. At
the same house as I mentioned
before, I’d been down to the beach
– which is close by – to record the
waves there for Act Of Contrition.
When I returned the birds were
all going a little crazy. I was alone
so it made things appear even
more ominous. Needless to say,
the microphone was switched on
immediately.
Everything
Is Forgotten
by Methyl Ethel
is out March 3
via Dot Dash/
Remote Control.
06 MARCH 2017
visit MUSIC NEWS