If you recall the heady days of the post-punk era, you might remember that a whole swathe of bands sought to capture a bleak, sonic Cold War chill, inspired by the likes of Joy Division and often erring towards the gothic and the windswept. Such bands revelled in music that chilled the listener, which was cold and clinical, mechanical and menacing. Well, faults. feel like the natural, modern successors to such a sound.
Between the resonant splash of the digital beats and the brooding basslines, the ebb and flow of the beguiling electronica and the glass shard shimmer and distant chime of the guitar lines, “Sweets” evokes all of that and more.
As is often the case, the accompanying video does so much to propel this sound beyond the remit of mere song and into the musical bastion of the cinematic soundtrack and wide-screen film score. A powerful yet realistic and understated visual depiction of two battered and bruised women, seemingly on the run through the Scandinavian landscape, the film feels like a new, less romantic take on Thelma and Louise, or a gritty, Kerouac-infused escapade for a new, beaten-down generation.
Often, a video is just an add-on to promoting a song, an afterthought, and merely art for art’s sake. But with “Sweets,” we seem to be in the realms of filmic creativity driving the scenario, and the song itself serves to deepen, heighten, broaden, and underline the depicted plight of this desperate pair.
