Warpaint - Warpaint

I'm sure that, had I started this whole album-reviewing malarkey in 2010 instead of 2011, I'd have gotten around to listening to Warpaint's The Fool because there seemed to be quite a bit of fuss built up about them over here in the UK (oddly, a bigger fuss than that they generated in their home country). Of course, post-HAIM, the idea of an all-female L.A. rock band might carry more weight but these four are distinctly less poppy than the Haim sisters. It may have subconsciously helped though: this self-titled sophomore slotted rather sweetly into the top ten right here.

It may have only been four years but the formative years of Warpaint led towards a very different debut than this; latecomer and drummer Stella Mozgawa had the task of picking up already-written songs for The Fool, but here she's cowriter. It shows.
 

Intros that segue seamlessly into track two may well be one of my secret passions but the one with which Warpaint kicks off is so restrained and unwilling to be pinned down that it just sort of drifts by with a thin attempt at trying to beguile the listener; it isn't quite the trip-hop mystique of Portishead or Massive Attack that some fans and critics have suggested, it isn't of a conventional song structure. If anything, it's a something of a jam session, and lord knows how interesting they can be. That said, towards the end of 'Keep it Healthy' the dreamy, Claire Bouchey vocals of Emily Kokal certainly push the song in a bewitching direction. 'Love is to Die' is one of those singles that you're initially totally bored by but can certainly grow on you given the opportunity; the major problem with it is the deliberately out-of-key chorus and sometimes that's just annoying.

At least it makes an impression, though; 'Hi' (and what a laughably pretentious thing to call a song, by the way. The fuck is this? Musical livejournal?) sort of breezes by with glimpses of electricity in its percussion and beat, but it doesn't really sit well with Kokal's "sleeptalking priestess" setting. 'Teese' also fails to impress, but more out of opting to rest on some sleepy, incoherent mumbling. The weakpoints seem to be dotted inbetween the stronger tracks, which is quite fatal to its chances of being a replayable LP; 'CC' and 'Go In' both sit, pouting, expecting you to fall in love with them and their drawn-out, tedious repetition (the latter has 15 different words fed through a glaring synth).

The rare occasions that the girls actually seem interested in performing can be fun: 'Disco//Very' is the album's best cut; a sort of hazy, tribal vocal, pounding at you as a funky drumbeat takes over the senses. 'Feeling Right' has something of a Florence + the Machine vibe going for it, rather indebted to the trippy British romantics of the 80s. One bone of contention with the band is often their lyrics; take 'Drive' (a fine, eerie moment) and its poor beat poetry ("I want to stay inside these visions/ that seem like they say/ it doesn't mean anything, you've gotta get your back up off the wall"). Kokal's claimed it's about being released from limitations, which is conveniently vague.

Warpaint is a little like listening to Grimes' Visions after a bucket of bleach's been thrown at it and washed away all of the bits that made it interesting.

Rating: 5/10
Highlights: Disco/Very; Keep it Healthy; Feeling Right; Biggy
Avoid: Teese; Love is to Die; CC; Drive; Go In

Artwork Watch: I like.
Up next: James Vincent McMorrow