Methyl Ethel released their latest studio album, Triage, on February 15, 2019 via 4AD, the third album in a triptych started with Oh Inhuman Spectacle (2015) and continued with Everything Is Forgotten (2017), which was named Best Independent Album by AIR, the Australian Independent Record Labels Association. After touring and promoting their album, Everything Is Forgotten, Jake Webb of Methyl Ethel returned to Western Australia and got to work on the material for the album, stating, “I got obsessed with a lot of theory, essentially trying to discover how songs work.” Methyl Ethel is the musical project of Webb, but has put together a live band that recently grew to a five piece, including Thom Stewart, Chris Wright, Lyndon Blue and Jacob Diamond. Triage is described as a “reflective album that explores the notion of coming of age, only to reference it for the snapshots and passing memories that it has become.” About the material, Webb explained, “I found myself in the same city, alone in a room tasked with writing an album to be heard, not as an outlet for personal grievances. I decided to find closure with Triage. The question this time around is ‘what is important? What requires attention?’ I think It’s about living with secrets. Secrets cause the problems. They call them white lies, little things used to manipulate people for the greater good. It’s a triage of truths to maintain an artifice.”
B-Sides met up with Methyl Ethel to talk about Triage, how the live band members will contribute to the song creation in the future, Webb’s discovery of music by The Cure and more. Check out the interview:
