Sarah Meth – Fun

Sarah Meth wrote her first song about heartbreak aged nine. “It was about two of my classmates that had broken up” she laughs. “It became this thing in school where in assembly, I would sometimes just put on a gig. ” Music had been an outlet for her since her mum signed her up for a children’s choir aged 4. “It was all classical, choral music. I was the only one that couldn’t read music, and I would just hold the sheet music and guess. I think that really trained my ears. Every Sunday for twelve years of my life, I sat in a wall of sound, constantly listening to harmony. I loved that, feeling like a part of something. ” That experience, along with guitar lessons at school where she got taught to play her favourite songs so she could sing along to them, laid the groundwork for a lifelong obsession with making, and performing music, which later led her to attend BRIT school, where peers included Black Midi, Olivia Dean and Lola Young.

On her debut full-length Something Shameful – out October 30 via the artist’s own imprint Wishbone – Meth is still fixated on matters of the heart; shame and desire, yearning and letting go. Most of the record’s protagonists (or antagonists) are people Meth met on a fateful trip to New York in 2024, following her first major UK tour supporting King Krule.

“A guy had invited me to go to New York but then he bailed, so I thought ‘fine, I’ll do it by myself.’ I ended up meeting so many people that week who became, at different points over the years, main characters in my life. It was special being somewhere new, meeting that version of myself outside of London.”

Some tracks were recorded at 4AD’s London studio with in-house engineer Fabian Prynn, while others were made with Sorry’s Louis O’Bryen, or on a laptop in her South London bedroom. This patchwork-esque process reflects Meth’s decidedly DIY spirit, and the strong community of artists and musicians that she has surrounded herself with. From earlier releases with scene-defining underground label Slow Dance to her own Wishbone nights, where she invites collaborators such as Tyler Hyde (Black Country, New Road), Mary In The Junkyard, Cameron Picton (My New Band Believe, Black Midi) and Wing! to perform with her, Meth draws heavily on her creative relationships with her friends, even while writing, producing and mixing the majority of the album herself.

Today, Meth is sharing a new single called “Fun,” that arrives following a run of tour dates with Mary In The Junkyard.

The track displays Meth’s intricate range as it forays into a heavier sound. The usual acoustic guitar gives way to distorted strings that interweave with Meth’s increasingly urgent vocals. Snare-heavy drums and the punctuating repetition of the title-word further solidifies the rock’n’roll anthem quality of the song.

Meth says of the track:

“Fun is a song about having too much fun…..making choices based on impulsive feelings and the consequences that can come with that.”

Immediately following the album’s release Meth will be at Pitchfork London in November.

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