Between their 2015 debut album 'Oh Inhuman Spectacle' and this year’s 'Everything Is Forgotten', Methyl Ethel’s Jake Webb doesn’t appear to have cut his hair; his head now sprouts an unruly blonde mop.
Similarly, the tight indie-pop sparkle of their debut has morphed into rambling psychedelia.
While NME and Rolling Stone may have heralded them as the next coming of Tame Impala, Jake Webb has not entirely domesticated his genius yet.
Their live act is a mix of murky and turgid shoegaze with a smattering of catchy pop splendour.
Show opener ‘Drink Wine’, with its slow groove and steady synths, the burst of guitar sunshine on ‘Twilight Driving’ and the triumphant ‘No 28’ were tantalising glimpses of a rare talent; the latter two as well as ‘Rogues’ from their last album are almost reminiscent of The Shins (click here to read The Shins recent Brisbane review).
It was their smash ‘Ubu’, though, that was mostly responsible for filling the refurbished Fat Controller (9 December) to capacity; once that song’s earworm has infiltrated the brain, it will never depart.
It was this track that elicited the most visible emotional response; the rest of their set sat in this netherworld, where they do not quite rock hard enough to mosh nor groove sufficiently for you to dance; you can simply sway and nod.
First support act Childsaint, Perth’s answer to Warpaint, impressed with their closing song ‘Hallelujah Heartache’, but were similarly devoid of hooks and choruses as Methyl Ethel with many of their tracks.
The second support, Kuzich, was a baffling electro, hip hop oddity who could either be categorised as an outsider genius or an unrehearsed shambles.
With all three acts, the seeds of something much more are there; time will tell if they will be watered and then grow.
Click here to read our review of Methyl Ethel's May 2017 Brisbane show.
