Chemtrails are a five piece from London, headed by the partnership between Mia Lust and Laura Orlova. Fresh from their debut release back in December, the band have just released a new EP, Headless Pin Up Girl.
The title track kicks things off, a big bouncy indie pop song. It’s a good introduction to the Chemtrails vibe, part romantic jangle pop, part B-movie schlock, a heart-warmingly weird take on catchy indie tunes. “Way up in the hills, I could be anyone,” they sing as they begin their tale of a shapeshifter, “I waited in the car until the men were gone / in the scaly chest of every lizard king / beats a frozen heart but it can’t do anything.” The second half sees things get even weirder, the lyrics a list of images from the occult and your favourite horror movies.
“Like a panther or the beast of Bodmin moor
from the deepest frontal lobe vibrations
comes the figure of a headless pinup girl
I know all the other beach crustaceans
don’t believe the slimy oyster hides a pearl”
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‘Most of Want They Pour on Me Is Scorn’ is equally odd, catchy in a sweetly strange way, while ‘Killer Bees’ is something of an update on the classic murder ballad. Lead single ‘Deranged’ continues the sociopath-pop vibe, an impossibly joyous ode to being the odd one out. The release ends on ‘Forever Watching the Skies’, another song that references a shamanistic ceremony, all bone crowns and stone tables and fervent fireside chanting.
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Headless Pin Up Girl is out now on PNKSLM Recordings and you can get it from the Chemtrails Bandcamp page.