Warpaint
Rough Trade/Remote Control
Warpaint’s self-titled sophomore album is good but if this is what the band feels to truly represent Warpaint, as opposed to 2010’s debut The Fool, then it’s somewhat disappointing. Admittedly, three-and-a-half years is a long time and the ‘Paint seem to have discovered a new bunch of bells and whistles to accentuate their droll yet completely radcore psych-girl-rock sound, but seriously, if it ain’t broke?
The inexorable thick guitar picking of Keep It Healthy is a good start for the album, starting off where their breakthrough single from 2010, Undertow, finished. Emily Kokal’s vocals still sit back in the mix with a slight phase giving her an almost American Indian chant-like etherealness.
Love Is To Die breaks into a post-punk canter under-laid by a new romantic rhythm giving the song a well-timed inconsistency that builds then falls into a sombre chorus of, ‘Love is to die / Love is to not die / Love is to dance, love is to dance’.
The two aforementioned tracks (two and three) get Warpaint off to a tantalising start but from there it kind of gets lost in overproduction, with Kokal’s voice breaching the realms of toned down musicality and entering a caterwaul. However, this is still a good album from an excellent band.
DENVER MAXX
