Methyl Ethel - Triage (Album Review)

Following in the footsteps of Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, Jake Webb attempts to create his own "Lonerism" but ultimately fails to stand out in his lane of art rock.

The output of this band since their 2013 formation has been both consistent and frequent, and whilst their acclaim and fanbase have grown hugely, the quality of their music has sadly not, with too many songs falling to the wayside as unoriginal, undistinguished and unimpressive when compared to the vastly superior peers and inspirations. With the release of the promising single "Scream Whole" last year, my hopes were raised for an album that would hopefully prove Jake Webb's vision could be realised and for the first time ever, executed.

The first problem is that, in the context of the album, I immediately discovered the suspicious similarities between "Scream Whole" and Tame Impala's "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards", specifically in the plodding, driving bass. In addition to the poor transition into the middle 8 section of the track, this does bring my enjoyment down a bit and as the lead single, I expected more. What's a shame is that, this is probably one of the best songs on the album.

Too many of the songs are forgettable and indistinguishable from one another and from the artists they take influence from, resulting in a sound devoid of the personality and quirkiness so quintessential and fundamental to the art rock and psychedelic genre. It can be an accomplishment in an album to achieve a flow and coherence between songs, but this is like a trudge, not least helped by the midtempo of basically every song offering little in terms of memorability. When there is little to grab onto it becomes difficult to appreciate the beauty of these songs, and it isn't that they're lacking in that department it's just that they bore you before you can be impressed.

A track that sums up a lot of the album is "Real Tight", a song that tries way too hard to stand out and leave an impact with the listener but comes off as an overextension of Webb's vocal abilities, the flow and tone really not working for him and the beat far too mundane to support the more abrupt instrumentation. This is continued and magnified with "Hip Horror", suffering from all the previous flaws of "Real Tight" but to a greater extend, the smooth yet over the top retro R&B vocals really not contributing to anything more than the list of reasons why this song doesn't work. You'd think that this sort of approach wouldn't dominate an indie album, but apparently the band needed more opportunities to squander promising synths and end up with a lifeless sound backing a soulful singer that isn't actual singing anything particularly interesting or revolutionary.

Credit where credit's due, there are a couple of actually good songs here, including the explosive and groovy single "Trip the Mains" as the obvious and acclaimed standout. As catchy and great as this song is, boasting the best beat and production anywhere on this album, it isn't exactly a realisation of the vision Webb is going for. It's the standout, but not the centrepiece of this album. For that I urge you to look towards the closer "No Fighting", the somewhat cliqued but overall achieving moment of importance that overshadows the other songs lyrically and almost manages to prove that Methyl Ethel can make music for the hipsters and critics they are targeting but as yet not winning over. This is the song that has themes worth pondering, although whether it'll stick is another question giving the album's overall mixed reception. I'm not even sure if I'll come back to it much.

In conclusion, this is an oversold yet underlooked album. It's easy to see what it could have and tried so hard to be, but difficult to appreciate for what it is. The majority of tracks are dull and uninteresting but a few gems prevent this album from falling into truly awful territory, although they're not enough to save it from being a disappointment and underwhelming result. The band don't lift the tracks above the bar they're reaching for, and Jake Webb seems too absorbed in his vision to realise or execute it, leaving the lyrics vague at best and cliqued, generic and poppy at worst. Overall, I am rating this album a light 4 out of 10, this isn't something I want to come back to besides maybe one or two songs.

Best Songs:
Trip the Mains, Post-Blue, No Fighting

Worst Song/s:
Real Tight, Hip Horror, Ruiner, What About the 37°?

"Triage"

Methyl Ethel

15/02/2019