Los Angeles’ The Sweet Kill Announce Debut LP with Synth-Soaked Post-Punk Single “Darkness”
The Sweet Kill have just announced the release of their debut LP Darkness with their newest video-single by the same name. The Sweet Kill is a one-man post-punk project which focuses on the more dark and gothic side of the genre. Perpetually recording and producing at his own SHADOW ZONE SOUND in Los Angeles, Pete Mills wrote The Sweet Kill’s sonic cinematic debut Darkness with the intent to inspire those lost in the shadows of life. Driven by cold synths, atmospheric guitar and melodic bass, multi-instrumentalist and velvety crooning baritone Mills conducts a darkwave masterpiece of romantic sorrow echoing the laments of The Cure and Joy Division.
The video for the single Darkness was shot and produced in Los Angeles by director James Mitchell. The video features Mills in a straitjacket, tormented by an inescapable, faceless antagonist draped in BDSM gear. While Mills is tortured and teased by his nemesis in erotic black vinyl, he comes face to face with a real-live panther which eventually becomes one with his inner being. Reflecting on the meaning of the single Darkness, Mills states, “The spark between dark and gothic attraction can lead to a charged demise. Perpetually intertwined with murky chemistry and twilight solemnity, Darkness polarizes this extravagance”. Starring Murphy The Panther, the video for Darkness also features actors/dancers Andrea Feyler, Paradise Brittain, Luliia Lozovaia, and of course Pete Mills as himself.
The album Darkness, due out on vinyl in September 2022, is a dark and gothic post-punk diviner of millenarian angst. Darkness bridges the decades between the early days of post-punk and the now. You can hear elements of The Cure and Bauhaus reverberate through Mills’ taut, brooding vocal performances, while the pounding bass lines and brisk percussion are reminiscent of artists like The Killers or Franz Ferdinand. The personal lyrics and accessible melody and production fall somewhere between Editors and Fontaines D.C., lending the songs an openness that will appeal to fans of pop and rock, not just post-punk.
