Tim Friese-Greene produced Sweetness and Light over a six-week period at the Greenhouse and Wessex Sound Studios in London.

Mad Love brought a large amount of attention to the band from both the alternative and mainstream British press, with vocalist-guitarist Miki Berenyi and guitarist Emma Anderson becoming the subject of several gossip columns in national weeklies.

[1] Sweetness and Light was recorded at the Greenhouse, a mid-range studio in London, in August 1990 with Friese-Greene and engineer Ed Buller.

[2] The sessions were unusually long for Lush; overall production was done over a six-week period,[1] with mixing completed at Wessex Sound Studios.

According to Anderson, Friese-Greene changed the original drum tracks to "Sweetness and Light", as well making several edits to the song's overall structure.

According to NME writer Steve Lamacq, the vocals were "half-hidden" as they were symbolic of the band's "withdrawn" approach towards pop music and their "reluctance to become a "blatant" part of the current 'indie' rush to the charts.

"[4] "Sweetness and Light"'s drum and bass instrumentation — performed by Chris Acland and Steve Rippon respectively — are arranged in a Madchester style and drew comparison to the Stone Roses.

[2] Acland and Rippon's rhythm section was made more prominent and "dancefloor-worthy" in Kevin Shields' "Orange Squash" remix, included on the soundtrack to the 1999 film Splendor.

[2] The run-out matrix codes on the groove of the 12-inch record pressing of Sweetness and Light included two obscure messages: "Cool, fresh, milk float" on side 1 and "What's hiding under the sheets?"

[19] Lush were signed to Reprise Records on a licensing and distribution deal in the US a week after the release of Sweetness and Light,[1] and the EP was reissued as part of Gala in November 1990.

Best of Lush, a compilation album released in March 2001,[20] and the song was made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band video game series in July 2009.