Warpaint by Warpaint album review

All girl band Warpaint certainly impressed with their debut album (The Fool) back in 2010. Critics loved it and the band managed to become fairly well known amongst keen music listeners. This latest self titled offering from the band features many songs that are constantly moulding, transforming and evolving into something new through out. Structurally, each song will change 3 or 4 times and there isn't a distinct verse/chorus structure that you would find in most mainstream pop songs. Mix this in with a melancholic indie sound and you've got a pretty experimental album on your hands here. Also, the record features songs that a lot more synth driven compared to "The Fool".

The album starts off with a brief intro before going into "Keep It Healthy". This song isn't like a lot of songs on the album as it's far more upbeat and guitar driven. It's almost as if the band are saying "if you want a cheery album then have this one track and then get out of here". We then get "Love Is to die" which alters drastically between melodies that vary from unsettling to happy. This is especially clear in the main hook of the song, where lead singer Emily Kokal sings "love is to die, love is to not die" (the unsettling part) and "love is to dance, love is to dance" (the happy part). In fact it's quite genius how the lyrics match the tone of the vocal melody, you don't see a lot of bands doing that. "Hi" features a stand out bass line with drums that go from synthesized to acoustic, and then back to synthesized again. All the while we have gloomy vocals that really help the song to give it it's tone. Not only that, but we also have some cool lurking synths towards the end of the track. "Biggy" goes from a single lucid synth riff to many gorgeous reverb guitars, before going back to the synth riff again. Here in these first five tracks, there is a consistent feel of the songs constantly changing. None of them stand still for too long and this makes for really interesting listening.

On the half way point of the album, "Teese" we have more of a traditional Warpaint song in terms of instruments. The song starts out with acoustic guitars but then develops into a tune that has rising vocal melodies and underlying synths. Other highlights on the album include: "Disco/very", "Feeling Alright" and "Drive". The first of the three, "Disco/Very" has quite an unusual tone on it compared to the rest of it's counterparts. There is a driving four to the floor drum beat with lots of high hats, which gives the song a strange dance-y feel. "Feeling Alright" is surprisingly happy (especially for Warpaint!), the bass line is bouncy and the song is generally quite optimistic sounding. "Drive" has bleeping synths that transform to high pitched vocals. It's more of a return to some of the earlier songs on the album. "Son" is also a good outro with it's sad piano driven riffs, wobbly synths and plucky guitar parts.

However, the self titled album has it's moments where it sounds a bit messy because it's trying to be different and change too much through out a song. "CC" blends dischords with fuzz, which doesn't sound particularly great on paper (or in your ears either). Brief but clear interludes save this song from being a bit of a train wreck. "Go in" starts off with barely any instruments but then it builds up and includes, delay effects and rewinding guitars. This is what makes it kind of confusing though, the song isn't really sure if it wants go with atmospheric delay or trippy rewinding guitars. These are very picky faults though and they don't really detract the album from being a brilliant one.

This album may have taken four years to make, but my gosh it was worth it. The album has a clear feel in that the songs evolve interestingly whilst having the sad Warpaint sound. However, it also pops up occasionally with something a bit different which stops the record from becoming too repetitive. Hopefully this album will challenge artists to come up with something just as good for 2014.

OVERALL RATING: 8/10

BEST TRACKS: LOVE IS TO DIE, TEESE, FEELING ALRIGHT.
WORST TRACK: CC