Written by Lauren Rosier
Today, Methyl Ethel – the pseudonym for the West Australian songwriter, producer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, Jacob Webb – shares a brand new single and music video for his dance track, “Matters.”
On the track, “Matters”, Webb explains:
“I was living in LA while writing this song. After being there a while, I realized that I knew nothing about what to do if there was an earthquake,” says Webb. “It occurred to me that there is the ever-present danger lurking beneath your feet. 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.”
“Matters” is definitely one of my favorite indie/dance tracks of the year. It’s a track that’s bound to get you moving up and out of your seat and the creativity and the unique idea of filming from the band’s perspective just shows that Webb is constantly thinking outside the box.
About the track’s accompanying video, Webb elaborated:
“I love how powerful the cameras in our pockets are. It’s amazing how quick-on-the-draw people can be when there is something to document. I guess everything has value as an image on the internet. I thought it would be interesting if we (the band and I) basically all filmed a video from our perspective.”
“The song deals with the idea of something catastrophic looming over you. What better way to represent that frenetic, anxious feeling than with shaky phone footage. So, we taped our phones to our chests and shot a video in a cellar in 2 hours. It’s instant and, I think, echoes the reaction a lot of people have to catastrophe, they pull out their phones.”
Methyl Ethel creates music from many different influences, with much of their history rooted in new wave and indie rock. In the end, they only sound like themselves. Over the years, Webb has knocked out three albums and three EP’s, and has proven himself to be a prolific writer and master of eccentric alt-pop.
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