The Sweet Kill

The Sweet Kill

The Sweet Kill is a US post-punk project led by Pete Mills. It is based in Los Angeles and is described as a one-man group, with Mills as the only member.

Style and sound

The project works in post-punk, darkwave and gothic rock, with cold synths, atmospheric guitar, minimal drums, melodic bass and Mills’s baritone vocals at its centre. Its sound is described as cinematic and rooted in romantic sorrow, with comparisons to the Cure and Joy Division.

History

The Sweet Kill begins in 2022. Mills records and produces the project’s material in his own studio, Shadow Zone Sound. The project presents itself as a continuation after earlier projects and as a new phase in Mills’s work.

Releases

The Sweet Kill releases the 2023 album Darkness. The singles “Undead” and “Forbidden” appear as lead tracks from the follow-up album Nowhere, which is issued through Young & Cold Records in Germany and Shadow Zone Records in the USA.

Themes

The project is concerned with loss, shadowed states of mind, and questions of life, death and the soul’s journey. Mills frames Nowhere around the question of whether the soul floats in an ether after death or is never truly lost.