Methyl Ethyl at Great Scott, 9/30

by Seth GordonFor a band whose music is full of angst and emotion, Methyl Ethel were surprisingly upbeat and entertaining. Frontman and lead singer Jake Webb joked and played around with the smaller audience of Great Scott, entertaining them with stories about the band and their current tour. Boston was the last location for the Australian based alt-rock band on their current North American tour, and it was clear that this was their most free-form performance yet.After an intimate and captivating opening performance from Ada Lea, the band took the stage and opened with “Ruiner”, the first song off of their latest album Triage, which was released earlier this year. The song’s upbeat start was replaced by a haunting repetition of the chorus by Webb, backed up by a stellar bass performance by Thom Steward. After a few songs from their latest album, including the buyout “Trip the Mains”, which features an 80’s sounding synth with a strong acoustic beat, and the much slower and emotional “Post-Blue”, where Webb wailed the chorus “come back to me” backed up by a dreamy and melodic synth to match, Methyl Ethyl decided to play some of their older songs. They launched into “Twilight Driving”, one of their most popular hits. The shoegaze-y synths, combined with standout drumming from Chris Wright, allowed the art-rock band to captivate the audience for the whole set.The band ended the night with “Drink Wine”, a crowd-pleaser from their 2017 album Everything is Forgotten. With the entire crowd singing along to Webb’s hallowing falsetto, matched with the band’s quintessential synth, the band brought a sensational night to an upbeat close. And as the lights came up and the audience slowly filtered out, there was a sense of calmness and contentedness, each one of us knowing we had just witnessed a high caliber of artistic talent on display.