Methyl Ethel, the project of Western Australian musician Jake Webb, returns today with a frenetic new single, ‘Matters’.
The single follows up his deceptively infectious first single of 2021 titled ‘Neon Cheap’, which marked Webb’s first release with new label Future Classic.
‘Matters’ steers things in a markedly different direction, opting instead for channeling a whole bunch of frenetic, anxious energy into the track’s multiple arpeggiated synths. His voice opts for shorter, sharper phrases in the choruses, matching the intensity of the instrumental.
Webb says he wrote the track whilst living in LA in response to a revelation he had in realising he wouldn’t know what to do if an earthquake hit.
“It occurred to me that there is the ever-present danger lurking beneath your feet,” he said. “It’s just something you have to learn to live with, this aura of danger.
“There are fault lines that run through all of us, threatening to open when we least expect. As the world begins to reckon with a certain cracking of the foundations, I thought it would be interesting to explore the frenetic, reactive feeling, of danger.”
The track comes to us alongside a frenzied, glitchy video clip directed by Duncan Wright. Warning for viewers with epilepsy: there are a bunch of flashing lights throughout the clip.
Check that out below.
