Visionary avant-pop duo Faux Real has unveiled their new single, “Faux Maux,” available now.
A starry-eyed ode to staying in and logging out, the track (pronounced /fō mō/) is joined by a self-directed official music video, featuring cinematography by longtime collaborator Léo Schrepel and streaming now on YouTube. Listen to the single HERE and watch the video below.
“Faux Maux” sees Faux Real – a.k.a. Los Angeles-based Franco-American brothers Virgile and Elliott Arndt – shining brighter here than ever before, with melodies that never land where one would expect, two-part turnarounds, plastic splashes of sound design, and irresistible vocal hooks. Forever expanding their faux-cabulary, the Arndts have melded a particularly 21st Century malaise with a layer of sarcastic French wordplay, with “Faux Maux” quite literally translating to “fake aches.” Initially conceived in a pre-COVID world, the song’s key message of the phone as emblem of our times (“Call me up / I’ll turn you down”) has since piled on several new coats of meaning, with its themes of isolation and social anxiety also echoing the environmental illness of Julianne Moore’s character in Todd Haynes’ Safe (1995). As they set forth on their new era, Faux Real invite us into their singular playhouse, opening the door on the idiosyncratic and ingenious home they have been building from the inside out.