Chemtrails

Chemtrails fuses noise pop with an unsettled undercurrent, drawing from surf, punk, and garage rock sources to shape its overall texture. Its first long-player, Calf of the Sacred Cow, surfaced in 2018. That same double-edged tone carried forward across subsequent releases, notably the 2020 album Peculiar Smell of the Inevitable and the 2024 set The Joy of Sects, the latter marking the band’s initial collaboration with an external producer.

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Mia Lust, guitarist/singer Laura Orlova, bassist/singer Laura Sumner, keyboardist Ian Jubb, and drummer Sam Neubär established the group in London. They inked a deal with Stockholm-based PNKSLM Recordings, also known as Punk Slime, in 2016. The imprint issued the debut EP Love in Toxic Wasteland that December. A follow-up EP, Headless Pin Up Girl, appeared in May 2017 and featured intimate lyrics reflecting Lust’s perspective as a transgender woman. Still working from Lust’s living room, the band delivered Calf of the Sacred Cow in February 2018. Cuckoo Spit arrived as another EP that December, after which the members moved to Manchester in 2019.

The second full-length, Peculiar Smell of the Inevitable, emerged in April 2020 amid a shift toward more hook-driven material. At that point the lineup comprised Lust, Orlova, bassist Ian Kane, keyboardist Dianne Velvet, and drummer Adrian Hammersley. With Liam Steers taking over on drums, Chemtrails exited the living-room setting to cut its third album alongside producer Margo Broom (Goat Girl, Big Joanie), who heightened the energy without sacrificing rawness or playfulness. The group supported touring acts such as Big Joanie and Dream Wife at Manchester venues throughout 2023, then issued The Joy of Sects on PNKSLM the following January.