Women have successfully dominated the music industry recently, from big pop stars like Beyonce and Katy Perry to promising newcomers like Lorde. And now, after a four-year hiatus, there’s indie-rock band Warpaint, who prove with their new self-titled album that they deserve to be added to the list of women planning to rule the music world. The Cali-bred quartet formed in 2004, but have taken things slowly as far as their music is concerned, with only one full-length album, “The Fool” (2010). However, they have proven that their projects are well worth the wait.
If you’ve been craving more of Warpaint since their first album, you will not be disappointed with their latest piece of work. Warpaint’s unique sound is completely vibe-worthy, brimming with chill guitar melodies, a heavy drum focus at the center and a lazy bass that surrounds their entire sound. Their music is topped off with Emily Kokal’s haunting vocals, echoing in and out of prominence throughout each song.
Warpaint proves how musically knowledgeable they are right off the bat. The first two songs “Keep It Healthy” and “Love Is To Die” consist of spontaneous key changes that are bound to create immediate shifts in the listener’s mood. Warpaint also experiments with hip-hop drum beats, which create many highlights on the album, including “Hi” and “Biggy.” Most of Warpaint’s songs seem to trap you in a hypnotic trance, immediately hooking the listener with slow and steady intros only to entirely switch up the groove later in the song. Even dance-worthy tracks like “Disco//Very” contain their signature loopy-bass style and distant, whisper-like vocals that evoke an almost sedative state in any listener.
Lyrically, Warpaint keeps it simple, leaving all the intricacy in their instrumentals. “Go In” is arguably the best example of this as Kokal sings, “As it quickly went / Something could have been / I’ll go in” — the only lyrics in the four-minute track. Although repetitive at times, Warpaint creates mysterious lyrics that are open to interpretation, specifically in “Drive”: “I want to stay / Inside this vision / I see them at the table / We gotta go / Go off the wall.” This redundancy carries into the vocals, which occasionally become a wailing drone, partly because of the aforementioned trance-like nature of every song. Warpaint’s calming approach to music is suitable to the overall laidback but interesting theme of the album, but is slightly aggravating if you’re looking for each song to be noticeably distinct from one another.
However, Warpaint does just enough to keep things interesting, experimenting with abstract sounds and abnormal rhythms in songs like “CC.” It doesn’t take much listening to know that these ladies kick butt. You can almost put them in the category with fellow indie rockers HAIM, although maybe a slightly mellower version. Fans of HAIM or even The XX should find music gold in this newest effort from Warpaint, which proves to be a worthy addition to any alternative-listener’s playlist.
Rating: 4 stars
