Trust Punks

Emerging in early 2013, Auckland indie rock quintet Trust Punks coalesced from the remnants of pop-oriented outfits Nevernudes, Cool Cult, and Grass Cannons. The musicians sought an environment for unfettered sonic exploration by fusing strands of their varied influences, among them Wire, Deerhunter, Women, and Liars. Their resulting style wove post-punk, college rock, and noise rock conventions together with dense lyrical meditations on political and philosophical subjects.

The band issued its debut single, the gritty and murky “Amphetamine Psychosis,” independently in April 2013; subsequent tracks followed, offered directly through Bandcamp. One of these, the roiling “Prone Hold,” appeared on their first EP, Discipline, which Spunk Records of Auckland released in November 2014.

On their debut full-length, Double Bind, issued in 2016, Trust Punks foregrounded their most abrasive post-punk experiments and sharp expressions of political fury.