Today, Seattle noise pop legends Chastity Belt share ‘Chemtrails’. It’s the third single ahead of the band’s upcoming album Live Laugh Love, out March 29 via Suicide Squeeze Records. The song was initially conceived as a product of jamming, but the end result flaunts a sharpness that calls to mind a moody side of 2000s alternative rock. “Someone like me can’t let go of anything / Moments move like chemtrails in my mind,” singer Julia Shapiro drawls on the chorus, over a blunt guitar riff and pounding drum groove. Inspired by haunting memories that can’t be let go, the song is accompanied by a fittingly spectral video directed by Ertuğrul Yaka.
On the track, Julia Shapiro offers: “’Chemtrails’ started off as a jam when we were rehearsing for an upcoming tour. I started playing that initial lead guitar part without thinking, and the rest came together pretty naturally after that. Gretchen’s drums along with Annie’s bass really drive the song – the drums remind me a bit of Protomartyr (love those boys!), and Lydia’s lead guitar line in the chorus is very rock n roll. The lyrics are about not being able to let go of things and retracing memories in your head. I reached out to Ertuğrul Yaka about animating something to the song because his work is often pretty dark and introspective, and he came up with a video that really fits the vibe.”
On the video, animator Ertuğrul Yaka shares: “Every person has the hope of finding their other half throughout their lives. I tried to explain the deprivation suffered by a person who cannot find her other half. The smiley mask is the persona that she shows to other people. The moon is a metaphor describing the search for couples to each other. At the end of the song ‘I’m painting us a picture in my head’ based on the lyrics, I made the reunion inspired by ‘The Lovers’ painting by Rene Magritte.”