Are You Haunted?

Released 18 February 2022

Jake Webb may tinker away alone on his layered compositions as Methyl Ethel—not unlike fellow Western Australian visionary Kevin Parker—but the results are more extroverted and clubby than ever on his fourth album.

Having moved from arty UK label 4AD to more dance-oriented Aussie imprint Future Classic, Webb follows suit with songs that spin his well-documented experimental impulses into itchy electro-pop. “Matters” is especially upbeat and danceable, while the Talking Heads-esque “Neon Cheap” nails another one of his reliably sticky choruses.

Even the more pensive piano ballads pack outsized twists, as in the way “One and Beat” builds to an intense finale. Webb even welcomes his first-ever guest singer on “Proof”, with Stella Donnelly bolstering the song’s creeping sense of anxiety around internet-fuelled scepticism.

Like the best Methyl Ethel tracks, it’s a percolating outlier that features both lush musical detours and a sneaky gravitational pull towards the dance floor.