28 November 2025

THE CHEMISTRY SET – The Tragic Fridge Magnet / STP (2025, 7”, Fruits de Mer Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Fruits de Mer Records

Format: 7”, Single, Limited Edition, Random Color 1, 150 copies

Format: 7”, Single, Limited Edition, Random Color 2, 150 copies

Release Date: 19 Dec 2025

The Chemistry Set resurface once again from London’s lysergic undergrowth with a new 7″ double A-side that feels less like a release and more like a controlled detonation. Out December 19th on Fruits de Mer Records, “STP / The Tragic Fridge Magnet” finds the veteran psychedelic alchemists—Dave Mclean and Paul Lake’s ever-evolving lab project since 1987—distilling decades of cult mystique into two gloriously unhinged cuts. For a band whose 54-strong discography has become a trail of instant sell-outs since their 2008 rebirth, it’s fitting that Fruits de Mer practically built the Regal Crabomophone imprint around them, granting them a home where their most mind-bending experiments can thrive.

Wrapped in Robin Gnista’s hallucinatory artwork and paired with phenomenal visual work by Drain Hope (yes, the sorcerer responsible for Gong’s last six videos), this 7″ oozes the sort of vintage-future psychedelia that keeps the underground’s pulse twitching. And if that’s not enough, a Bandcamp digital edition lands January 15th, 2026, carrying an exclusive extended version of “STP” – because apparently things can get weirder…

Here’s Dave McLean on “STP”:

The lyrics are kind of a continuation of an earlier Chemistry Set song, ‘Paint Me A Dream’, with lots of visions from the skies, surrealism and a bit of comedy.

A man takes a tab of (STP) LSD which was the variety known in the 1960’s as STP (and the LSD tab had the STP motor oil decal on it). We are making a video and that will have the STP typography but transformed into LSD.

…then the trip begins…

stars fall on the house, moonlight beaming, heart racing, rapid breathing, his eyes are open to new sensations. Then celestial beings appear from the sky with gleaming robes and golden eyes, all around him they appear but tell him not to fear.

…then he trips out to the idea of Space, Time, Perception, a heavy and deep but pleasant trip.

In verse 2, he is a little scared and in a trembling voice, asks what do they seek? They came for him, they did say, told him never to turn away. Then he sees a gift, radiant in majesty. He tries to reach for the gift but his arms cannot lift. Then the twist is the celestial beings say, ‘we cannot give you what you deny’.

On the outro I say ‘is it safe, is it safe, is it safe’. Which is a nod to the dentist’s scene in the film ‘Marathon Man’ with Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman…I always loved that scene and although it doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of the song. I like the abstract nature of saying ‘is it safe, is it safe, is it safe’. Kind of rolls off the tongue, like the teeth.

…A good old fashioned psychedelic trip!

A: “STP”, this one finds The Chemistry Set in peak alchemical form, distilling Space, Time and Perception into a mid-tempo neo-psychedelic burner that hits with the force of a technicolor flashback. From the very first seconds, the track glows with that unmistakable late-’60s aura—the swirling haze, the fuzz-thick undercurrent, the sense that the floor beneath you is tilting ever so slightly. It’s Chemistry at the Service of Psychedelia, the band doing what they do better than almost anyone: sculpting melody out of madness and tripping the listener into a world that feels simultaneously familiar and fully unreal. The core cut (3:51) rides a hypnotic groove, the guitars fuzzing like overloaded neurons firing in slow motion, while the vocals drift through the mix like a guide inviting you deeper into the hallucination. It’s an insanely astonishing psych track—lean, vivid, and steeped in the atmosphere of ’68 without ever sliding into nostalgia. Then comes the extended version (5:14) – you’ll have to wait till January to listen to it – and the whole thing mutates. The additional 90-second intro stretches the song’s aura into something far more cosmic—heady, space-drenched, rippling with effects that feel like vectors slipping out of fixed dimension. In both forms, “STP” is The Chemistry Set doing what only they can: bending time, bending sound, bending perception. A vintage-modern psychedelic artefact that hits straight between the eyes!

… and here’s Paul Lake on “The Tragic Fridge Magnet”:

Whenever my wife and I go on holiday we always buy a fridge magnet. We’ve done this for many years from way back on family breaks when our kids were little and it’s become a bit of an obsession.

Now we have a fridge plastered with the things… which is great when they relate to somewhere you enjoyed, but a few remind you of a holiday that maybe was not so good, so I try not to look at those ones, but can’t bring myself to remove them.

Now suppose you bought one that was really an ancient amulet from the days of the Pharaohs that had been nicked from a tomb, stuck to a magnet, inscribed with the words “Hello from Cairo” and sold for a few quid in a local souk? It could happen, right? Now that would be tragic wouldn’t it? Both for the magnet with its terrible fall from grace and possibly for you… if it were cursed… look what happened to Lord Carnarvon!

AA: “The Tragic Fridge Magnet”, if “STP” is the lysergic drift, then “The Tragic Fridge Magnet” is the punch right in the solar plexus. Clocking in at 2:56, this AA-side detonator is a psych rocker shot through with pub-rock adrenaline—an electrically charged burst of fuzz, swagger and full-on speed that feels built for sweat-soaked stages and blown-out monitors. The Chemistry Set kick the doors wide open here: everything is louder, dirtier, more direct. It’s upbeat, urgent, and joyously unhinged, the kind of track that turns a gig into a riot and a crowd into a hurricane. A stage burner, a fuzz storm, a lightning bolt wrapped in distortion. Short, fast, loud, and absolutely scorching!

In conclusion, in just two tracks, The Chemistry Set prove once again why they remain a cult force in modern psychedelia—balancing mind-bending trips with electrified, full-throttle energy. A 7-inch that hits hard, burns fast, and lingers long after the needle lifts. TimeLord Michalis