WL//WH Video Of The Day: LETTING UP DESPITE GREAT FAULTS “Powder/Dress” (Official Video)

Video Of The Day LETTING UP DESPITE GREAT FAULTS

Founded in Los Angeles in 2006 by songwriter Mike Lee, and soon relocated to Austin, Texas, Letting Up Despite Great Faults, the multifaceted Dreampop quartet, fresh from this Spring’s 15th-anniversary extended vinyl edition release of their self-titled debut LP, are approaching the upcoming 5th studio full-length, “Reverie”, slowly unveiling several excerpts, of which two, the LP’s openers “Powder/Dress”, have been visualized by the latest Official Video directed by Paige Glover and filmed/edited by Evelyn Williams.

Deftly mixed by Melina Duterte (Jay Som), and mastered by Simon Scott (Slowdive), the 10 tracks expand effortlessly the band’s refined and rich sonic palette with further intriguing textures and nuances, blending moody melodic sonorous low ends with intricate drum & bass style drum patterns and whimsical electronic effects.

There’s a sentiment of ageing and a longing for a truly unconditional kind of love that comes with it. Mike Lee

Angsty and nostalgic, “Powder” frenetically rolls through shuffling, off-beat rhythmic patterns alongside humming basslines, scattered with quirky glassy, arcade-style, arpeggios, wistful shiny guitar melodies and swells of swaying drones, whilst anxious, feathery female vocals express insecurity about growing up.

Thinking about old and former friends and loves, and then thinking about my own funeral, I quickly got stuck on this curiosity of what everyone would wear? Would they care what they wore, what it meant, if it was the same outfit as the last time we saw each other? Does that person even remember? Or, do they really remember? Mike Lee

“Dress” compels vibrant, introspective and slightly melancholic moods stirred by steady, at times broken, beats and sinuously chugging bass pulses, pierced by somber sparkling arpeggiated guitar melodies, and minimal sad synth buzzes, to wash fragile, yet determined vocals of obsessive worry, with reverberating, bittersweet cascades of tragedy and hope.

The heartwarming visuals directed by Paige Glover and filmed/edited by Evelyn Williams, set “Powder” as a prequel to “Dress”, a stand-alone Official Video that was released two weeks ago on August 2, 2024. Together they form a linear progression of events, starting with a dream-like state where a girl, played by Sarah Zapata, struggles to help her robot friend, Max Orona, who keeps falling apart.

The story transitions with a dramatic shift in lighting for the second half and we find Zapata alone outside of a house, wearing a torn party dress. Once inside, she joins Devin Glover, another partygoer, and three robots, dressed in imaginative hand-crafted costumes, played by Alexander Arcilla, Lydia Barkley, and Meg Hart. By the party’s end, a symbolic finale finds our heroine in a dress that is no longer torn after she figures out how to put the pieces of her life, as seen through a jigsaw puzzle, together.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults‘ forthcoming album, “Reveries”, is slated to be released, in colored 12″ Vinyl LP/CD and Digital formats, on October 6th. On pre-order on the band’s Bandcamp.

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