Perth dream pop trio Methyl Ethel are leaning heavily towards the dancefloor in "Ubu", the lead track from their upcoming sophomore album Everything is Forgotten (March 2017). The sensitive introspection from their debut album Oh Inhuman Spectacle(2014) is still present, but the frantic, manic energy that pulsated below the surface is now broadcasted into the open:
'Now you cut yourself off from your friendsIt's not just a personality thingIt's 'cuz you're still so afraid of what is on a planeYou've been dreaming about it againYou're going to have to explain yourself it's personalBut once its done it's just as wellI know it hurts see I can tellBut to face it is the main thingYou pull back and you don't seem rightYour skin is looking deathly whiteI wanna see you get out and aroundHave a run or just lounge in the sunNo I don't wanna force this on youBut I have to do somethingBefore you go and break yourselfBeyond your [?] doubtsI thought I saw you on the street on the corner at the barI thought I saw you in the car in the shadow with the [?]So you're waiting in the dark for someone to explainJust how it ended this wayWhy'd you have to go and cut your hairWhy'd you cut your hair'
Lyrics: Genius
The track - and accompanying music video - is inspired by (1896), a revolutionary French surrealist play by Alfred Jarry. As befitting the avant garde nature of the track's inspiration, frontman and vocalist Jake Webb described the song to Paper Magazinein relatively cryptic terms: "an anthem for the coward ... I'll sit on your shoulder and preach the gospel of good will and polite action. Some questions are rhetorical. Some actions are exploratory".
What's the significance of the haircut? Who is the song addressed to? What exactly is going on here? It's all up to interpretation and speculation, and the Yvette Paxinos-directed mostly monochromatic music video heightens the surrealism and anxious uncertainty in the song by presenting the trio with mad scientist hairdos, warped faces, body swaps and modernist architecture.
