The Australian band Methyl Ethel make music that owes debts to both Eighties New Wave pioneers as well as Seventies art-rockers. The group's latest album, Triage, out now via 4AD, is full of sleek, heartfelt, electro-pop of the sort that finds a listener struggling for a perfect comparison point. There's so much here that feels familiar, even as the music in general seems like an entirely fresh spin on established forms.
The lush "Trip The Mains" is positively euphoric, and it's the sort of single that places this group next to Roxy Music (the Eighties version) and MGMT, while "All The Elements" is a neat blend of New Order and early Simple Minds. Leader singer Jake Webb should get a lot of the credit here as he adds a bit of real theatricality to what could be, in other hands, fairly rote stabs at past forms of New Wave. Now, I say that but what I really mean is that the dash of emotion from Webb's performances on tunes like "Scream Whole" and "All The Elements" is the thing that sets this music apart and places it in its own category of greatness. And while at times things slip back into territory that's more familiar ("Post-Blue"), most of Triage is a genuine expansion of what constitutes electronic-based alternative rock, with a few numbers here ("Real Tight", "No Fighting", for instance), adding a genuinely thrilling percussive energy to this band's brand of tune-age.
Triage is out now via 4AD.
More details on Methyl Ethel via the band's official website, or the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Uncredited Facebook group]